Potter, Inverted
by Mad Elf
Summary: A tale of fantasy and body-warping accidental magic. Harry retreats from his family's violence behind the shield of a character he's read about and grown to admire. No pairings.
1. ANGRY? Harry's sudden transformation!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Inspired by Harry Potter's Discovery by JohnDeath:  
>s5284129/1/Harry_Potters_Discovery

I read the above piece, and thought that the basic concept was very interesting. It sat in my head for a while, then this popped out. It's not an attempt at great literature or anything, and I've made a couple of possibly incorrect assumptions about a certain series of light novels, but at least I've found a power-up for Harry that doesn't involve setting the events of the books fourteen years later than they should be.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV...  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**ANGRY? Harry's sudden transformation!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

It was definitely not the sort of household one would find on middle-class Privet Drive. The distinctly scruffy bungalow would never have been tolerated on that cookie-cutter-perfect street, but it somehow fitted in perfectly beside the mad old cat lady on Wisteria Walk. And of course, shunned as they were by the polite gentry of the neighbourhood, the three students living there had not heard the terrible stories about 'that Potter boy'; so when he tumbled through the hedge into their unkempt garden one fine May afternoon...

"Hullo," said Jon, looking down at the small boy who had come close to knocking his garden table over. "What's going on here?"

"Shh!" said Harry. "It's my cousin Dudley. He..." He tailed off, holding back a tear as he unconsciously cradled his twisted arm.

"Ah," said Jon. "Well, I'm just enjoying my breakfast in this nice sun, and going over some of my chemistry notes, so I'm sure I wouldn't notice if someone decided to hide out on that zed-bed over there for a while."

"Pardon?" said Harry, confused.

"You sit there quietly, let me get on with my work, and maybe your cousin will give up and go home?"

"Okay..." Harry went over to the battered springs-and-canvas device, currently set up as a lounger, and sat gingerly on one side.

"Here, I might have something you can read... how old are you kid? And what's your name, for that matter?"

"Harry Potter sir, and I'm eight."

"Really? I though you were younger. Hang on..." Jon got up and went into the house. Harry could hear him shout something about sticking a couple of extra sausages on, then he returned with a glass of Coke and a large, brightly-coloured book.

"You don't look like you've eaten in ages, so if you'll wait a bit you can have some breakfast with us."

"Thank you sir," said Harry, unsure whether this was a sudden turn of good fortune or some kind of trap.

"I'm Jon Davis, and I'm nineteen, so drop the 'sir' could you? Here, you can read this; just try not to spill Coke on the pages. There'll be sausage sandwiches in a bit."

"Thanks s— Jon."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

It was a very odd book. It had lots of pictures, and was written in some indecipherable script that Harry initially thought was Chinese, though Jon later told him it was Japanese. However, there were loose sheets tucked between the pages with an English translation. Jon also had to explain that you had to start at what Harry thought was the **back** of the book, and read it in the opposite direction. Once he got the hang of it, Harry was soon immersed in the story.

And he was hooked. He **had** to come back, not just because the students gave him somewhere to hide from the Harry Hunting, not just because the story kept him entertained... because of _Her_.

Something about her spoke to Harry. She was young, independent, and didn't take any rubbish from any bullies. She had her flaws, but she was powerful, knowledgeable, and collected friends who stood by her.

She could do **magic**! She ate as much as she wanted! And **no-one** called **her** a freak and got away with it!

If Harry had been a few years older, he might have fallen in love with the redhead from the book; as it was he found someone he could admire and aspire to be like.

So he became a regular fixture at the students' bungalow, getting the occasional meal and reading more about _her_. When the university term finished for the summer, Rod the physics student went home to stay with his family in Scotland, but Jon stayed on, as did Michael (who also studied chemistry, but turned out to be the person translating the book). Harry kept his visits there a secret from everyone, because they were sure to be stopped if his uncle and aunt ever found out.

He didn't talk much about his home life with the students, and they accepted that, allowing him to open up at his own pace. There was however one thing he determined to keep secret from them, because he was sure they'd think him mad.

One night, a couple of weeks after his first visit, he was locked in his cupboard early for some imagined freakishness. As before, his mind wandered into fantasy as he sat in the dark; but instead of dreaming about his parents coming to rescue him, he began wondering what _she_ would do.

She would incinerate his relatives with a fireball!

She would pin Dudley to his seat with a single thrust of her sword!

Failing that, she would certainly **not** just sit here in the dark.

"Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let thy power gather in my hand! _Lighting_!"

It **worked**! He had said the incantation quietly to himself, just fantasising, but then he'd felt a strange rushing sensation run up his back, down his arm, and out his hand... and the cupboard lit up as the shining ball formed in the air.

Then dust sifted down as Dudley tramped down the stairs, and Harry stuffed the ball under his blanket.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry practised the spells from the book diligently, whenever he could find time alone. Judicious use of _Illusion_ and _Ray Wing_ made sure that Dudley rarely bothered him again, and the occasional donations of food from his student friends helped build up his strength. By the time they graduated and moved out of the bungalow, just before he turned eleven, this universe's Harry Potter was a more robust and confident youth than the vast majority of his analogues. Unfortunately, that ended up causing him... trouble.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"**BOY!** You've been stealing food again, haven't you?! **And** you cheeked your aunt when she found you out!"

"No Uncle Vernon, I haven't. And all I said to her was that I hadn't stolen—"

"**CHEEK**, boy! I don't know how a freak like you can expect to get away with that sort of thing! Maybe missing a few meals will remind you of your place."

Vernon transferred his grip on Harry's arm, and shoved him towards the cupboard. Harry made the mistake of trying to resist.

»THUMP«. A meaty fist struck him on the side of the head, making him see stars. By the time his vision cleared, he was falling inside the cupboard, and the door slammed behind him.

"You can just stay in there until you learn some manners, **boy**!" spat Vernon as he locked the door.

Harry felt the rage grow inside him, but with an effort of will pushed it down, moulding it onto the ball of concentrated ire that seethed in his core. Calm on the surface once more, he lay down and tried to get some sleep.

As he drifted off, the ball of anger combined with his uncle's words, still echoing around his subconscious, and something... happened.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

»KNOCK KNOCK«. "Come on, get up. It's Dudley's special day; we can't have you holding us up and spoiling it."

Harry woke suddenly, his aunt's nagging voice ringing in his ears. The cupboard door unlocked and swung open, letting light in for the first time in two days. A bony hand reached in and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him out.

Petunia gasped, and whispered, "_Lily..._" Then rage overtook her, and she pulled Harry down the hall to the full-length mirror by the front door. "Look at this!" she hissed venomously. "What have you done now, you **freak?**"

Harry tried to take in what he was seeing as his aunt shook him violently.

Eyes, unchanged.

Face, still definitely his, but somehow slightly softer.

Hair... a deep, rich, red; and long too: far past his shoulders.

Body... again, softer, with slight curves where he had none before. And something... missing...

Petunia shook 'him' again, spinning 'him' to face her.

"**Well**? What have you **done, FREAK?**"

The former boy snapped. Eyes blazing, she slapped her aunt's hands away, pushed her against the wall with sudden blossoming strength, and as Petunia's knees folded, pinned her there with a forearm across her throat.

She leaned in to her aunt's face, and hissed from a range of inches:

"Call.

Me.

**Lina.**"

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear. What has Harry done to himself? A subconscious defence mechanism induces dissociative identity disorder, fixating on a favoured "saviour" character who has near-sociopathic tendencies, borderline egomania, and a history of solving problems with excessive violence — all bundled up and made real by anger-fueled accidental magic. What changes will this effect in the unfolding of this universe's story?

This is my first try at a multi-chapter work. Don't expect updates too often. It'll probably run one chapter to a school year, covering up to the end of fourth year.


	2. BAIT! Lina invades London!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Slayers is a series of light novels, anime, and manga with epic fantasy themes, somewhat like _Dungeons & Dragons_ in feel; the original light novels ran from 1989 to 2000. For a reasonably good in-depth description, check the Wikipedia page. I see no reason to suspect that there weren't students diligently producing scanlations back in 1989, that the young Harry Potter could have got his hands on.

I personally have only seen the anime (so far!), so I have to make the assumption that the characters and spells made it from the light novels to the anime essentially intact.

I was considering explaining the spells in author's notes, but it's probably best to direct readers to the reference I'm using: inverse-dot-org, on the path slash-e-slash-bkg-slash-magic-slash-cats-dot-shtml

Oh and by the way: little girl alone in a big, bad city. Nothing much happens, but some nasty things are talked about. You have been warned.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV...  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**BAIT! Lina invades London!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

"Call. Me. **Lina.**"

Harry's Aunt Petunia flinched as her transformed nephew hissed into her face, rage twisting the now-girl's features. Lina's anger was so strong, Petunia felt as if ice water was flooding into her veins. She was about to break down in terror, when thirteen stone of salvation waddled to her rescue.

"Mummy, is the freak ready yet? What's taking so— **MUMMY! You leave Mummy alone!**"

Lina jumped back from Petunia, landing to face Dudley. She raised her arm and made a twisting gesture with her hand, causing a ball of energy to appear above it. "**Back. Off**," she commanded. Dudley tripped as he jumped back, and slid down the wall to collapse on the floor, his eyes wide with shock.

"Don't you dare," croaked Petunia. She coughed, straightened herself up, then tried again. "Don't you dare harm my Diddykins!"

Lina raised an eyebrow at her. "Or...?" The energy ball flared ominously.

Petunia's face crumpled, tears collecting in her eyes. "Please... just don't. He's all I have."

Lina sighed, remorse flitting briefly across her face. "All right. But I don't think living here is going to work from now on. Time we moved on, yes?"

"You can't," whispered Petunia. "They made me promise..."

"Who?"

"The ones who left you here. The other fr— the other ones, like your parents. Like you. You have to live here."

"Others... like me? Why here?"

Petunia sighed. "I don't know. Something to do with you living with family. I'm all that's left, since Lily died."

"So you were supposed to take Harry in, keep him safe?" Petunia nodded. "You didn't do a very good job, did you?" The energy ball flared again.

Petunia flinched. "We never wanted you..."

"That doesn't excuse—" Lina cut herself off, then sighed. "Never mind. I could spend the next few hours ranting about how unspeakably evil you've been to Harry, but I doubt you'd really listen. So I'll just get his things — oh wait, he doesn't have any. We'll just leave, okay?" Petunia nodded jerkily, and Lina let the energy ball evaporate. She turned and fixed Dudley with a glare. "Goodbye, cousin dearest. Enjoy your birthday." Seeing him flinch at the venom in her voice, she cackled, then turned to leave.

"Wait," said Petunia. Lina turned to see her take her purse from her handbag, and pull out a handful of notes. "It's all I have on me," she said, thrusting the money at Lina.

"Discharging the last of your responsibilities?" said Lina, smirking as she took the cash. "Well, don't worry. I'll take care of Harry from now on. You'll never need to think of us again."

Petunia nodded, then Lina turned and let herself out of the house.

-=o=-

In a castle, in a hidden valley in the Highlands of Scotland, a contraption of silver wires gave off a piercing whistle and began spinning madly. As the owner of the device was away (at the Inverness Rollerbowl, practising the spin needed to recover from a seven-ten split) it was left to his phoenix familiar to deal with the situation. Which it did, by waddling over to the shrieking device, kicking it off the shelf, then dropping books on it till it stopped.

-=o=-

‹_Thirty-five pounds, is that all she could spare?›_ Lina shrugged. ‹_Well, we'll just have to leave a little thank-you note...›_ She walked over to Vernon's beloved car, rolled her shoulders, and looked around. ‹_No-one paying any attention, good...›_ She laid both hands on the vehicle, and whispered, "_Blast Wave_". Energy surged through the car, ripping a path through the bodywork until it collapsed into two pieces.

Resisting the urge to cackle out loud, Lina grinned and started on the walk to the nearest shopping centre. The sound of a young boy giggling echoed through her mind.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lina's first priority was to get at least one decent set of clothes. Fortunately the local charity shop had a couple of t-shirts that layered nicely, a pair of leggings, and a light jacket that didn't drown her like Dudley's sweatshirt; while a small supermarket supplied a three-pack of panties and a cheap pair of plimsolls, as well as a pre-packaged sandwich and a couple of bags of mixed fruit and nuts.

Unfortunately, that all came to nearly thirty pounds.

‹_Right... first things first. I'd better get changed; can't expect to go places looking like this.›_ There was a cheap café a few doors down; Aunt Petunia had always turned her nose up at the place, but it would do nicely for Lina's needs. The woman behind the counter took her order for a cup of tea (another fifty pence gone), and waved vaguely at the rear of the room when asked about a toilet. A couple of minutes later, all of Dudley's oversized cast-offs were shoved in the bottom of the plastic bag, and Lina examined herself in the fly-blown mirror. ‹_Okay, not looking too bad now.›_ She fluffed her hair out a bit, then went out to collect her tea.

‹_So,›_ she thought as she leaned back, cradling her cup, ‹_there are others like us out there somewhere. We should probably try finding them.›_ There was a tingle of excited agreement from Harry, quickly overridden by apprehension. ‹_But since some of them were responsible for putting Harry with the Dursleys, I'd better get into a position of some strength first.›_ She sat up again. ‹_Either way, things will go better in the city. We should have enough left for a train ticket.›_

Lina downed her tea, and headed out to the railway station.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry had never been allowed to go into the city before, so Lina was completely unprepared for the vast, glittering cavern that was Paddington Station. She flitted about for several minutes, drinking in the various sights and sounds of one of London's larger stations. Finally her lack of money — especially in comparison to the prices of the myriad foodstuffs available from the different vendors — began to wear on her, and she headed out the large main entrance.

Outside, the view was rather less impressive. Although several of the buildings had suitable sandstone or limestone frippery around the windows, they were predominantly made of dingy, utilitarian bricks; and the one or two modern buildings were depressingly similar to those back in Little Whinging's shopping centre. Spotting a gap in the traffic, Lina darted across the wide road outside the station, and started down a narrower, though still busy street. At least the houses here had nicely-painted brickwork, and the shops in the ground floor were well-kept and enticingly stocked.

‹_Why are they all restaurants and food shops though?›_ complained Lina to herself as her stomach grumbled loudly. ‹_And why's it called London Street?›_ she continued, distracted by the street sign on one of the buildings. ‹_We're __**in**__ London, aren't we?›_

She walked on, crossing other streets, as restaurants gave way to hotels, then to houses.

‹_It's all a bit too posh though,›_ she noted. ‹_Where do people go to get mugged in this city?›_

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

After walking for nearly five miles over the best part of three hours, and having discarded Hyde Park (‹_Maybe once it's dark; it'd do if we have to sleep rough›_), the Regent Street area (‹_So __**that's**__ Fortnum and Mason. We are __**definitely**__ coming back with money.›_), Soho (‹_It's supposed to be __**dodgy**__! When did it turn into yuppie heaven?›_), and Trafalgar Square (‹_Pickpockets aren't worth our time. And neither is that museum; we don't know any fences. Yet.›_), Lina finally crossed the Thames at the Westminster Bridge, and saw...

‹_Riverside pathway, doesn't look too well-lit, running underneath the bridges... that should do!›_ Spotting a grassy area just downstream, she took the stairs down to the riverside and went over to find somewhere nice to sit while she waited for nightfall.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Darkness had fallen, and the hordes of tourists had largely dispersed. Thanks to a hamburger vendor taking pity on Lina as he closed down for the night, she wasn't feeling too hungry, but the last of her money had gone on some bottled water.

Lina had secreted herself in a dark corner in the girders under the Westminster bridge. With the city beginning to quiet down, the chimes from the Elizabeth Tower clock could be heard clearly. Big Ben had already rung midnight, and the lesser bells were tolling the first quarter, when she heard rough-sounding voices from further up the path. Just as the last bell faded to silence, there was a muffled cry, and a crumpling sound as something heavy fell to the pavement. There was a cruel chuckle, then two voices in low muttered conversation.

‹_Showtime,›_ thought Lina, as the two began walking under the bridge, towards her hideout. Two older men, dressed shabbily (and somewhat oddly), congratulating each other on a successful night's work. She waited until they had just passed beneath her, then used _Levitation_ to float down and land silently behind them.

"Bandits are the same everywhere," she said loudly. "Hand over your—"

The two men jumped as she began to speak, spinning to face her and pulling something (‹_Weapons?›_) out of their sleeves. Lina changed tack immediately. "_Flare Bit_!" Dozens of balls of light sprang from her hands and swarmed the two men, each bursting against its target with the force of a heavy punch. Disoriented by the pummelling, the men fell to the ground, arms up in an attempt to shield their heads.

Lina cackled. "As I was saying, hand over your valuables, and it won't go too badly for you." One of the men groaned, and began fumbling in his clothes. Lina bent over him, not noticing the stealthy movements of the other.

"_Imperio_!" A wave of fuzzy calmness washed over Lina. What was she doing again?

"Get up you idiot," snarled the spellcaster to his companion, pulling himself to his feet. "Just who are you, missy?"

"Lina Inverse," she mumbled.

"That's no wizarding name. Looks like we've found another mudblood. Two for the price of one, eh?"

"A bit scrawny, but not bad-looking," said the other man. "Can we keep her? It's been a while since we've had some decent fun."

"You're sick, you know that?" said the first. "She's what, ten years old at most? You should at least wait until they're bleeding."

Anger started to spike in Lina's mind, but the soothing blanket of the Imperius muffled it.

"Oh, she'll be bleeding, don't worry about that," leered the second. "We'll have lots of fun with you, little Lina."

"All right, let's go then." The first man grabbed Lina by the arm and twisted. She felt a squeezing sensation as the world vanished...

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

When her senses returned, Lina found herself in a dimly-lit room with dark wood panelling on the walls. Her captor released her arm as the second man popped into existence beside them.

"All right, she's all yours. Do you want me to keep her under?"

"Yes please. I'd rather get a good start, let her know what she's in for, before letting her fight back."

"All right. Lina, you're going to do everything my friend here asks you to do, and you're going to enjoy it. Do you understand?"

‹_Of course. I live to obey.›_ She nodded. Somewhere inside her, a young boy was screaming.

The second man licked his lips in anticipation. "All right Lina, take off your top please. Let me see you properly."

‹_No, Lina! Don't! Snap out of it!›_ Lina smiled and slowly stripped out of her t-shirts, revealing her smooth skin and tiny, perky breasts. "Beautiful," sighed the man, stepping closer.

‹_Lina, wake up! __**WAKE UP!**__›_

‹_What? __**NO!**__›_ Regaining her control, Lina brought her knee up as hard as she could, catching the man solidly between the legs. He went down with an almost inaudible whine. Turning, Lina gestured to the first man, and shouted, "_FLARE BIT!_" Again the man was pummelled to the ground. "I'm sixteen, you idiot! _BLAST ASH!_" Instantly, the man's body collapsed into a pile of dust. Lina turned back to the groaning man on the floor. "As for you..."

"Please, don't hurt me," whimpered the man on the floor. "I only wanted to play..."

"Play, you call it?" Fire burned in Lina's eyes. "All right then, you can play with **my** little friends. _Dark Claw_!"

Dozens of shards of magic flew out, shaped vaguely like small birds or giant insects. They swarmed around the pleading man, slicing into the flesh and bones of his arms and legs, whittling them down to stumps. Just before he passed out from pain and blood loss, a cluster of shards took his head off.

Lina was ready to collapse in exhaustion, but was quickly roused by another voice.

"Oh dearie dearie, such a mess. What to do?"

Lina snapped her head around, searching out the voice. "Who's there?"

A tiny creature with enormous eyes and ears appeared from behind an armchair. "I is Mandy, missy. You is killing bad master and his brother." She paused, looking pensive for a moment. "Mandy must punish herself for not stopping you." She tapped the back of her right hand twice with her left forefinger. "Bad Mandy." She smiled up at Lina. "Missy is a great witch."

"First off, I'm a sorceress, not a witch, and my name's Lina." She grabbed up her t-shirts and pulled them back on.

"Miss Lina is a great sorceress. What is you doing now?"

"Um... what do you mean?"

"You is conquering. You can be claiming all bad master's property. Mandy is bad master's property."

Lina pondered for a moment. "I think I understand. What was 'bad master's name?"

"He was being Morsus Umbridge. His brother was being Turpis Umbridge, but Morsus was being head of family so his conquering is what mattered."

"All right then." Lina squared her shoulders, and declaimed, "I, Lina Inverse, assert right of conquest over all goods and chattels of Morsus Umbridge, and hereby claim them in the name of Harry Potter."

Mandy's eyes widened at this, but she whispered, "You must be saying, 'So mote it be'."

Lina nodded and went on, "_So mote it be!_"

A bright aura flashed around Lina. It sent out tendrils, which scouted around the room and out through the walls. One of them bathed Mandy in its light for a moment, leaving her standing straighter and looking more healthy and robust.

"Mistress Lina is **truly** a great sorceress," breathed Mandy.

"Thanks," said Lina, blushing. "But I'm also a bit—" Her stomach growled loudly, finishing her sentence for her.

"Be coming this way please, mistress," said Mandy, gesturing to a heavy wooden table at one end of the room. She snapped her fingers, and several silver platters appeared, carrying a wide selection of meat and vegetable dishes.

"Excellent," said Lina, practically teleporting herself into a chair. "Now, that pair were the first magical types I've ever met — as far as I know anyway — so if you could tell about yourself and your world...?"

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Lina is not a 'nice' person, and is rather hardened to the misfortunes of life. Even so, the emotional backlash from this incident will hit her once she has a chance to wind down; but I won't be going into too much detail.

Harry Potter is just about to turn eleven. Lina Inverse is sixteen, at the start of the series, so the body and mind Harry subconsciously created have that age. However, Lina is rather under-endowed, and is often mistaken for a child, much to her consternation.

When I said not to expect updates too often, I wasn't meaning for it to be this long! However, real life intervened, and the story grew legs and ran away from me. So forget that 'one chapter per year' nonsense; they would need to be very long chapters indeed, and I'm trying not to do that with this story. I'm also removing the 'spamfic' warning from the top, and may need to reconsider its classification...


	3. COMFORT! Harry and Lina settle in!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

So, tick off three HP fanfic clichés: ditch the Dursleys, go shopping, get a house-elf.

Thanks to everyone who's followed, favourited, and reviewed! And for being patient. I apologise for not getting anything up sooner, but real life is a thing, and it sometimes gets in the way. I expect that future chapters will be similarly delayed. But they will arrive!

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV...  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**COMFORT! Harry and Lina settle in!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Mandy hummed to herself as she worked her way along the first-floor hall, repairing the fittings, touching up the varnish, and removing ground-in stains and the remnants of ancient, stale magic. Her previous owner had neither the inclination nor the power to enable her to deal with such issues, being satisfied with a superficial dusting, and disturbingly comfortable with the aura of old bloodshed and suffering that pervaded the house. Her new mistress, on the other hand, had power to spare, and wanted nothing to do with such reminders of old evil.

She was working on a particularly stubborn area of curse residue, when she heard a quiet, gulping sob from the master bedroom. Dropping the web of cleansing magic she'd built up, Mandy ghosted over to the door and silently slipped inside. Though a human would have considered the room to be dark as pitch, her eyes were sensitive enough to see that the current occupant of the bed wasn't the one she had tucked in a few hours before.

"_Lighting_." The voice was different too; less cocky and sure of itself, and somehow younger. Light sprang out from a glowing ball. Mandy walked over to the bed, eyeing the short, black hair and pinched features of the boy sitting propped up in against the headboard. "Hello Mandy."

Mandy snapped her fingers, lighting a few candles around the room. She examined the boy closely, feeling out his magic. "You is... mistress, but not-mistress. How?"

"Um, well..." Harry dismissed his light and paused, trying to work out how to explain. "I was... in a bad place. I had been reading this story — fiction, about a different world, and Lina was a character in it. I'd been trying out the magic in the story, and was doing okay... but when things got really bad, something happened. It was like... like Lina was inside me, hidden, but she suddenly took over and got me out of there. My body changed to look like her, and she could cast all the spells from the story, so much better than I could." He smiled a little. "It was really cool."

Mandy furrowed her brow. "I is understanding, though I has never heard of such before. You is Harry Potter, yes?" He nodded. "So why is you you again?"

"Those men... Lina's really upset, though she was trying to hide it. Not just because of what they tried to do to her; what she did to them too. I tried out the Flare Bit spell on some junk once, to see if it worked, but the other two... the first man just turned into a pile of ash, he didn't stand a chance. And the Dark Claw... in the book, it wasn't so bad. A quick kill. But Lina was really angry, and wanted the man to suffer, and the spell knew that..."

Harry shuddered; Mandy hopped onto the bed beside him and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "And how is you feeling?"

"Well... it was pretty awful. That man was going to... well, you know. And Lina was so... angry doesn't even begin to cover it. I've never felt anything like it; it was as if the entire world was being burned up by her rage." His face hardened. "But they deserved it. They killed lots of people, didn't they?" Mandy nodded sadly. "And they were going to hurt Lina."

"House-elves aren't supposed to speak ill of their masters," said Mandy, "but they was evil mens. Should have been killed long ago." She nodded firmly, then gave a tentative smile. "But how is Master Harry?"

He shrugged. "I'm all right. Lina's safe, and I'll look after her until she feels better." He smiled. "I think this is what having a big sister is like. She'll take care of me most of the time, but sometimes she'll need me to take care of her. Like now.

"It's a bit funny," he went on. "While she was in control, it was like watching the telly," he noticed Mandy's confusion at the term, and added, "or seeing a story in a book, through her eyes. I could see and hear everything, even her thoughts, but I was completely apart from it all, like nothing that happened could affect me." His eyes softened. "It was really nice, feeling that safe and protected for once. I must have felt pretty secure here though, because when she started to have bad dreams, I took over again... she didn't want to let me know she was upset, but I made her let me take over, so she could have the chance to cry, without worrying about other things."

"Mandy did her best to make Mistress comfortable," said the house-elf, nodding seriously. "Probably made Master feel comfortable too. Mandy will look after both Master and Mistress."

"Thanks, Mandy," said Harry. "For everything. I expect Lina will be back in the morning. We've got a lot to do tomorrow, and we don't want people to recognise me yet."

"Master should sleep now," said Mandy, "if tomorrow is a busy day. Lots of rest, and a good breakfast, and Master and Mistress will be ready for anything." She smiled, then wrapped her arms around Harry. "Nighty night, Master Harry."

Surprised, Harry returned the hug, before sliding back under the covers. "Night, Mandy."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

It was Lina who awoke the next morning, automatically taking over as Harry wanted more rest. She stretched, cricked her neck back and forth, then slid out of the high bed to the floor and drew the curtains to let the bright sunlight in. She let it warm her for a while, admiring the small park outside, then turned and gave the room a proper look over for the first time.

Mandy had obviously made some changes during the night; there were some darker squares on the heavy patterned wallpaper where pictures must have hung, and similarly shielded spots on the tops of the dressing and side tables. A few items had been laid out — comb, brush, nail scissors and so on — but they all looked unused, and quite new in comparison to everything else.

Both Lina and Harry were somewhat used to sleeping in their clothes, but the luxury of clean underwear couldn't be ignored; she quickly pulled off her leggings, changed her panties, and dressed again, then went over to the dressing table.

"Do something about your hair, dearie." Lina jumped when the voice issued from the mirror, then glared at it when it went on, "And that top isn't exactly flattering, either." She ignored it, taking up the brush and bullying her long hair into something approximating order. A couple of passes over her fringe, and— ‹_Oh, like yours is any better,›_ she thought at the newly-awakened Harry, whose chuckles were tickling the back of her mind. That one lock of hair, right on the top of her head, always refused to lie down.

"Well I suppose it's a **bit** better, but still..." sighed the mirror.

Lina pulled down her right lower eyelid with one finger, stuck out her tongue, and loudly said "Biiiiii!"

"Well, I never!" sputtered the mirror, as Lina bounced out of the room, laughing.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The smell of food drew Lina past a couple of closed doors on the first floor, then down the stairs and through the main hall to the back of the house, where she found Mandy perched on the handle of a large oven, stirring a pot on the hob above with one hand, while tending to the contents of a huge frying pan and two other pots with the other. The house-elf gave the sorceress a quick, bright smile before turning back to her work, and announced, "You is just in time, Miss Lina! Food is ready now. Be going through to the dining room, please?"

"I don't mind eating in here," Lina replied, gesturing to the large, well-scrubbed table in the middle of the room. "And I don't mind if you join me, either."

"Oh," exclaimed Mandy, "but that wouldn't be proper! Mistress eating in the kitchen? House-elf eating with her mistress? Oh no, that wouldn't do." She smiled and hopped to the floor, pulling the oven door open as she did so, allowing a gust of hot, delicious-smelling air to burst out. She snapped her fingers once, and the table was set for two. »Snap« again, and the contents of the various pots, pans and trays were transferred to serving dishes arranged across the table. One final »snap«, and the cookware jumped into the sink, ready for washing. Mandy jumped onto a high stool in front of one place setting, and gestured for Lina to sit.

Lina grinned at Mandy, and took her seat. "So, what's to eat?"

"I wasn't knowing what Miss Lina or Master Harry would like, so I cooked everything that bad old masters and their guests asked for. Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, black pudding, fried bread, french toast, dumpling, potato scones, fried mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, devilled kidneys, kippers, and porridge." She gestured at the end of the table, and went on, "Also having mixed grapefruit, peach, pear and pineapple for after; butter, marmalade and jam for toast; tea, coffee, milk, orange juice, grapefruit juice, pumpkin juice, and apple juice to drink. That do?"

Lina's grin widened. "That'll do." She dug in, and there was silence for a while as she made a massive dent in the food. Mandy waited, smiling at her mistress.

Once the initial edge of her hunger was off, Lina paused and commented, "This is really good. You're a great cook Mandy!" A tickle at the back of her mind prompted her to add, "I think Harry agrees with me."

"Of course I is," said Mandy. "Mandy would have to iron her hands if she were to shame bad master by serving bad food to his bad friends."

"Really?" asked Lina, shocked. "I mean, I know he was evil, but..."

Mandy giggled. "Bad master was evil, but not very bright. 'Mandy, go punish yourself', he say. I goes off looking sad, comes back later with bandaged hands. Not like he ever check to see what happen in between." She speared a sausage and bit the end off with a smile.

"That's good," said Lina, slicing into a devilled kidney. "So, let's see. Last night you were talking about all sorts of things about the Wizarding world, but you said that it was important we go talk to the Goblins about Harry's inheritance, and our right of conquest. And something about school?"

"Yes, Hogwarts. Potter family is famous, also well-off. Master Harry's parents most likely put his name down when he was born, and set up a vault to pay for his time there. But most of that can wait until Hogwarts letter arrives; need to see Goblins today, to properly take over Umbridge estate. Also Master and Mistress both need new clothes and things, and Mandy must make sure household has food and supplies."

"I saw you made a start with the cleaning," noted Lina. "Do you want to get new pictures, or paint the walls or anything?"

"Mandy started getting rid of old stains, bad magic, noisy paintings, but Mandy would never make changes without Miss Lina's instructions." She gave a sly smile. "Mandy does have some ideas, though?"

"Neither Harry nor I am any good at that sort of thing," said Lina. "Let me know what you have in mind, and unless it's totally weird, you can go ahead." She paused. "There is one thing though..."

"Yes Mistress?"

"You were very careful to tell me about the whole 'clothes' thing last night, but... look, you're effectively my aide, right?"

"Mandy is Mistress' house-elf. Servant, slave, whatever Mistress wants Mandy to be."

"Right... so, whenever you go out somewhere to buy something, or if you accompany me somewhere, people are going to see you and associate you with me, yes?"

"This is so, Mistress. Mandy has a feeling she knows what you is going to say. You is not liking 'traditional house-elf garb', no?"

"Well, not really, Mandy... hang on." Lina concentrated for a moment, then Harry's features replaced hers.

"Lina isn't very good at this sort of thing," he commented. "Look Mandy, neither of us is happy at the idea of having a slave. I get that you aren't one really, that you need to work for a magical family to survive, but that doesn't mean you should be treated badly. That whole business about ironing your hands... some house-elves really have to do that sort of thing, don't they?" Mandy nodded sadly. "Maybe we can do something to help them, later... but for now, I want people to see that we really appreciate you; that you're a valuable assistant with your own mind, not just a slave that can be ordered around. Do you see what I mean?"

Mandy nodded enthusiastically, causing her ears to flap. "If Master and Mistress can help other house-elves with bad masters, this would be a good thing. If Mandy wearing... better things would help him do this, Mandy will be proud to!"

Harry morphed into Lina again. "Thanks Mandy. As soon as Harry and I have some idea of the things we're going to be wearing in the magical world, and get a handle on any family crests we can use, you can help us come up with something for you to wear. And since you don't like using the word 'clothes' when it's for yourself, why don't you call it 'livery' instead?" Mandy nodded again.

"All right, let's finish this feast," said Lina, "and you can tell me your ideas for redecorating this place. And by the way, what was that about 'noisy pictures'...?"

-=o=-

Meanwhile, in a secluded valley somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland, a man with too many titles and even more names was also having breakfast. His mood was worse than Harry and Lina's, and his company less convivial...

"What d'you mean, you've lost Harry?" questioned his deputy. "What's happened to the poor wee lad?"

"Run off in a snit," drawled his spy. "Didn't get enough presents this week, I suppose?"

"Severus, please," said Dumbledore, distractedly. "Minerva, I'm sorry, but all I know is that everything I had monitoring his health and the wards around his house have stopped working."

"So go and **look**!" snapped McGonagall. "See if he's all right. Or do you want me to go?"

Dumbledore shook his head wearily. "I asked Arabella Figg to look in on them last night. She said that Petunia was half-triumphant that 'the brat' had finally left, and half-scared of any retribution that may fall on her for allowing him to go."

"So he really has run off?" smirked Snape.

"It would seem so," said Dumbledore. "Something Petunia said, though, gave Arabella the impression that he didn't go alone. She was very close-mouthed about the whole thing, apparently, but she let slip that he had protection of some kind. **Magical** protection."

"But who...?" asked McGonagall.

"Who indeed..." murmured Dumbledore, then straightened up. "We must reactivate the Order. Severus, please put your ear to the ground— **subtly**; we don't want anyone suspecting there is something wrong, especially among the darker elements of society. Minerva, please contact the others. I am going to pay Petunia a visit..."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

»POP«

At Mandy's urging, Lina quickly moved out of the Diagon Alley Apparition Point, in case of other arrivals. "That was different somehow," she commented.

"Different?" asked Mandy.

"When your old master..." she tailed off.

"Wizards are calling their travel 'Apparition', Mistress," said Mandy quickly, hoping to keep Lina from dwelling on the previous night. "House-elves are calling ours 'popping'. Can Mistress Lina not Apparate?"

Lina shook her head. "Nothing like that. I can levitate, fly, and breath underwater, but... wait though, Harry did something once that could have been similar. He's thinking of the word 'teleport'; have you ever heard of that?"

"No Mistress, but perhaps Master Harry was doing accidental Apparition? Very rare, but not unheard of. Maybe Mistress can copy that?"

"Maybe... we can try later. That's Gringotts up ahead, isn't it?"

With Mandy distracting Lina with conversation, they had managed to get most of the length of the alley without her appearing like a total rube. (A spare cloak from the Umbridge collection hid her rather Muggle clothing, while Mandy was wearing a pristine white sheet arranged like a toga.) "Yes Mistress. Now, you is remembering what I was telling you?"

"Goblins are money-grubbing bastards, with some really weird ideas about ownership and inheritance, but they won't break a formalised deal, and will go out of their way to help people nasty enough to appeal to their sense of humour," said Lina with a chuckle.

"Mandy did **not** put it like that, and neither will Mistress Lina, if she wants to get out of Gringotts with both ears still attached!" Mandy's horrified tone was belied by the giant grin on her face. She put on a more solemn expression as they approached the white marble edifice at the end of the alley.

The pair managed to keep their faces straight as they nodded to the guards at the door, and made their way into the shadowed interior of the bank. Mandy quickly led Lina over to an unoccupied teller in the correct section, and in a quiet but somewhat imperious tone, declared, "My Mistress has business with the Bank that requires privacy."

The teller nodded, and passed one clawed hand over a crystal set into his desk. A hemispherical field sprang up around them, obscuring the rest of the bank like frosted glass. "Speak your business," growled the goblin.

"By right of conquest, I have claimed possession of all holdings, goods and chattels belonging to the former Morsus Umbridge," intoned Lina, following the script that Mandy had taught her. "I have come to assert this right over any vaults that he may have held, either in his person or as head of the Family Umbridge."

The teller scribbled a few lines on a tablet, paused, then turned off the privacy field and replied, "An account advisor will be with you shortly. Wait over there." He waved at an imposing set of doors to one side of the main floor, then turned away to deal with his next customer.

A few minutes later, the doors opened and a more senior goblin (judging by his dress) appeared, ushering Lina and Mandy through. He led them down a corridor lined with doors down one side, stopping at one bearing a brass plate inscribed 'Bonehewer, Accounts', and again ushered them inside. Once inside, he took a seat behind the imposing desk that dominated the room, and waved Lina to the single chair in front of it.

Lina gave him a sour glance, then dragged a spare chair over from its place against the wall. Mandy waited until Lina was seated on the first chair, then hopped onto the second.

Bonehewer gave Lina a curious look, then said, "We recorded the demise of Morsus Umbridge, and his sole heir Turpis, last night. The only surviving member of the family is ineligible to inherit the headship, due to her gender. Your conquest, however, puts you in a unique position, which takes precedence over the line's inheritance rules. Gringotts can see no barrier to your claim to the Umbridge properties." The goblin gave a toothy grin. "Under which name do you wish to assume the headship?"

Lina glanced at Mandy, who nodded decisively. They had already discussed this point. "Well..." she said, and stood up, concentrating on her other self. Her hair shortened rapidly, darkening to black and revealing a jagged scar on her forehead. The lines of her face shifted slightly, becoming a touch coarser, and her body lost its curves and padding.

Bonehewer started. "Master Harry Potter? This is a surprise..." He pulled a large hexagonal crystal from a drawer in his desk, then stood and came round to Harry. The crystal glowed softly green as he waved it up and down Harry's body. "Definitely, you are the Potter Heir. Could you transform again, please?"

Harry concentrated again, and shifted back into Lina. The crystal gave off bursts of blue and yellow light, then finally settled on green again. Bonehewer examined it closely, then announced. "And now you are definitely a different person, of whom we have no record. One who is simultaneously over sixteen years old **and** under two days old, apparently. The crystal cannot decide if it was an Animagus transformation, or a Metamorphmagus one, but neither of those would cause an actual change of identity." He tapped the crystal idly against his desk, murmuring to himself.

"We were hoping to use the Umbridge conquest to establish my identity as an independent being," said Lina, interrupting his musings.

Bonehewer shook himself out of his thoughts, and replied, "That in itself is not unknown. Perhaps if we ignore the fact that you and Master Potter are sharing the same space and clothing... yes, that will work. Your name please, miss?"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

It took some time to hammer out all the details of Lina and Harry's alternating existence, but eventually she was confirmed as the Head of the Minor House Inverse (renamed from Umbridge), with vault keys, family ring, and paperwork to support that claim, and he was similarly confirmed and accoutred as the minor Head of the Noble House Potter. A complicated series of legalisms (and transformations back and forth) set Lina up as Steward for House Potter — Harry was too young to assume full control, but Lina's own Headship emancipated her — and gave Harry rights of access to all House Inverse vaults and properties (in case the transformation happened at an inconvenient moment). These machinations were possible mainly because the Potters died intestate, making Harry the automatic heir of all they had and held, and leaving his custody in something of a legal limbo, given that both his godmother and godfather had become unsuited to the responsibility.

Bonehewer's comment about the transformation being somewhat like that of an Animagus led Lina (once the term was explained) to hypothesise that with some concentration, she and Harry should be able to maintain separate wardrobes. A quick experiment confirmed this, much to Harry's momentary embarrassment, though this soon turned to relief when he realised this meant he wouldn't have to wear girl knickers any more.

Of course, this revelation, along with sudden access to a large amount of money, immediately led to another shopping expedition.

Harry was easily outfitted. With his fringe down to cover his scar, he was just another pre-teen wizard, and trusting to the combined fashion knowledge of Mandy and Madame Malkin, he was soon set up with a variety of formal, casual, and work robes, all befitting his station. (Mandy promised to personalise them with the Potter crest once they were back home.)

Lina, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with the confining robes Madame Malkin's beleaguered assistant tried to foist on her for daily wear, nor the rather frumpy underwear available in that shop. After taking some advice on where she might be able to purchase her favourite tunic-and-leggings style of outfit ("I suppose Twillfit and Tattings could make you something like the top, Ma'am, but I've never seen anything like your... legwear. Maybe you'd be better going to a Muggle shop?"), she left Madame Malkin's with nothing but a pair of cloaks: both black, one blue-lined for daily wear, another more formal one with purple lining, high collar, and gold-trimmed epaulettes reminiscent of her shoulder armour. And a robe for formal occasions. Also two pairs of boots. And a very nice ballgown in baby pink and white (with matching shoes), just in case. And—

Once Mandy had ferried the bags of clothing back to their house, they decided to pass on the other wonders of Diagon Alley in favour of hitting up some of London's more well-known shops, to get the remainder of Lina and Harry's clothing, along with the accessories Lina needed to complete her favourite look. With Mandy discreetly shifting their purchases home, they turned the day into an extended sight-seeing expedition, which came to an abrupt halt around four o'clock, when Fortnum and Mason hove into view. Fifty frenzied minutes and several hundred pounds later, Mandy transported the massive pile of food back to the house, whereupon Lina proved that she **could** eat enough to make it look like she was smuggling a football under her tunic.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The next day, Lina found the last piece to complete her sense of self. The Umbridge family heirlooms included a small collection of swords, and one of them was just the right weight and length for her. With Mandy's help she converted one of the spare rooms into a salle d'armes, and set about getting the competence with the weapon that she knew she should have.

And so it went for the next few weeks. Aside from the occasional trip out to pick up the clothes they had put on order, and a few hours spent relaxing in the park across the street, they kept mainly to the house. Lina and Harry practised the less-destructive spells in their repertoire, and the transformation between their identities; unfortunately the trick of apparition eluded them for the moment. They worked out, both general exercises and at the pell Lina made for sword practice. Time was spent learning about the mores, politics, and personalities of the magical world; from books, the Daily Prophet, and Mandy's own experience. Sometimes they would help Mandy with her redecorating project. Mandy and Lina came up with a design for the new House Inverse crest, and for the livery that Mandy was soon wearing.

Then the 24th of July rolled around...

-=o=-

"Master Harry! Master Harry!"

Lina sheathed her sword, and relinquished control to Harry, who turned to meet the excited house-elf. "What's up, Mandy?"

"It's here, Master Harry! Your Hogwarts letter has arrived!"

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Harry is about to come onto various people's radar. And what about the Last Umbridge?

Also: obligatory breakfast menu, and not a hash brown nor biscuits and gravy in sight. ("Dumpling" in this case refers to the Scottish clootie dumpling, which is a high-suet-content fruit pudding, and utterly delicious when fried.) I personally would never have all that for breakfast at the same time (not kippers, beans, kidneys...), but fourteen of those items together make for an excellent start to the day.


	4. DOUBLED! Harry and Lina's first hug!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Thanks once again to all who have reviewed and favourited this story. Life continues to make writing an occasional hobby at best, but at least it's here...

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV...  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**DOUBLED! Harry and Lina's first hug!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

"It's here, Master Harry! Your Hogwarts letter has arrived!"

With a flourish, Mandy presented Harry with a heavy parchment envelope. Harry smiled his thanks as he took it from her, then read:

_Mr Harry Potter_  
><em>care of Ms Lina Inverse<em>  
><em>The Master Bedroom<em>  
><em>Inverse House<em>  
><em>Canonbury Square<em>  
><em>London<em>

"Okay, even though you explained it Mandy, it's still a bit spooky that the **school** knew what address to put on this." He turned the letter over to examine the wax seal.

"It's magic, Master Harry. Are you going to open it?" Mandy was fair bouncing on the spot with excitement.

"Of course Mandy. Hang on..." Harry broke the envelope's seal, and unfolded the contents.

"Headmaster Albus... Dumbdoor? Order of Merlin, yadda yadda... does this bloke have enough titles yet? Anyway, Dear Mister Potter, we are pleased to inform you yadda yadda... list of all necessary books... await your owl. Yours etc." He flipped over to the second sheet, then went on, "First year students will require... we've got all those, though I still think the hat is dumb... name tags? I'm eleven, not four! Copy each of the following... I think we've got these as well, haven't we Mandy?"

"Not the Dark Forces book, Master Harry. And the house copy of Herbs and Fungi is probably out of date. But we have all the others."

"Wand, cauldron — what's next, a broom? — no wait, no broom allowed. Oh well. We'll need to pick all that up, I think?"

"No need, Master Harry. House Inverse has all the things needed, from old times. A wand is all you'll need to get, and a pet if you want."

"Probably an owl," commented Harry. "Having our own post-owl would be handy. By the way, Mandy," he went on to the grinning house-elf, "why are you so excited?"

"Because I can feel Master Harry's magic, and it's excited. Also, it has been many long years since this house sent children to Hogwarts, and Mandy is **so PROUD**!" She wrapped her arms around Harry's legs in a tight hug, then released him after a moment. "Mandy will go and lay out Master and Mistress' walking-out clothes, so we can go to Diagon Alley!"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lina took over for the trip in to the Alley, as was their habit by now. With Harry only needing to pick up two items, she sent Mandy off to get the missing books, and gave her leave to go on an expedition to find some fabric she wanted for the curtains and soft furnishings in the last couple of unfinished rooms.

Neither house-elf nor sorceress noticed a furtive figure mark their presence, and hurry off into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Right," said Lina, glancing unimpressed at Ollivander's dingy exterior. "One wand, coming up..." She pushed the door open, and transformed into Harry as it closed behind her.

"Now that's an interesting disguise spell, Mister Potter," said a voice by his ear.

Harry jumped and turned, flaring his aura defensively. The old man by the door raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Just my little joke, Mister Potter. No need to fly off the handle."

Harry glared at him for a moment, then relaxed. "I suppose not. So, apparently I need to get a wand?"

"Indeed, let's be about it. Which is your wand arm?"

Harry indicated his right, and Ollivander's animated tape measure began its bizarre dance.

"All right Mister Potter," said the wandmaker once his tape had finished, "let's see what we have for you. Hmmm..." He rummaged among the boxes stacked against the shop wall, then pulled one out and handed the wand within to Harry. "Try this. Elm and unicorn hair. Just hold it loosely and give it a wave."

Harry complied. Nothing happened.

"Hmm. In that case..." More rummaging, a second wand, a second attempt, and...

Nothing.

"How odd," said Ollivander, obviously perplexed. "Perhaps..."

Nothing with the third wand. Nor the fourth, fifth, nor any other for another fifteen.

"I wonder..." said Ollivander, then went further back into his shop and pulled out an older-looking box. "Holly and phoenix feather..."

Now rather bored with the entire proceedings, Harry took the wand and waved it.

Nothing happened.

"Mister Potter... Mister Potter, are you **quite** sure you are a wizard?"

"_Lighting_. Pretty sure."

"Indeed... Mister Potter, when I ask a normal young wizard or witch to wave one of my wands, they invariably let some of their magic leak. This leakage interacts with the wand, and tells me if the match is good." Ollivander leaned on his shop counter, bringing his silver eyes on a level with Harry's green ones. "Might I suggest that you relax your formidable control over your magic, so that we may proceed?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sorry, force of habit."

"So. Elm and unicorn hair?"

Swish.

»BANG«

The wand's shaft burst open, splinters spreading out from the handle like very thin petals, and a silvery-grey strand of hair swung limply for a moment before crumbling into dust.

"Mister Potter!"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Ten minutes, thirty Galleons, and five more destroyed wands later, Harry managed to work out how much magic he could safely push into one of Ollivander's wands, and Mr. Ollivander finally managed to locate a wand that matched Harry well enough to have a good chance of survival in case of accidents ("Oak, from a tree that survived three lightning strikes, and a heartstring from a particularly large and indomitable Hungarian Horntail").

Harry released control to Lina as they passed back out the door, which was somewhat unfair, as she still needed a good minute to finish laughing. Her cackles and inability to stand straight drew a fair bit of attention. Several rumours about the cause of this hilarity, many relating to wand size, made the rounds of the Alley over the next few days.

Once Lina was able to walk, she headed down the Alley to Eelyop's, and once again let Harry take over inside — after all, it was **his** owl they were getting.

The shop was incredibly dingy inside, and smelled as if it had not been cleaned for years. Loose down and thick dust covered every flat surface. Fortunately the cages looked clean enough, and their inhabitants appeared healthy, if rather listless.

Except for one. At the very back of the shop, a large owl, white with dense black chevrons over wings and breast, was bobbing up and down on its perch. As soon as Harry's gaze alighted on it, it called _hoo-ah, hoo-ah_ a few times, then sat back and waited, expectantly.

Harry went over to the cage and examined the owl. It returned his gaze, then blinked slowly and yawned, revealing that the petite beak normally visible was only the tip of an enormous raptor's maw, concealed by the facial feathers.

"Snowy owl," said the shop assistant, coming to stand beside Harry. "Don't often get them here, but she's been stuck here for a while. Doesn't like many people, but she seems to have taken a shine to you." As if to back up his claims, the owl snapped her beak at the shop assistant twice, then went back to examining Harry.

"Can I see her out, please?" asked Harry.

"Suppose so," said the assistant, and unlocked the cage, then stepped back smartly as the owl snapped her beak at him again.

Harry eased the door open and, pulling the sleeve of his robe down over his hand, presented it to the owl. She hopped to the edge of the cage, then lunged out, opening her wings more than four feet before getting her balance and folding them again.

"She's a big bird," said Harry in awe.

"Heavy, too," commented the assistant. The owl barked at him.

"I don't think she likes being insulted," commented Harry. "May I?" He held his free hand out to the owl's breast, not quite touching her. When the owl didn't object, he ran his fingers gently down her feathers, from the smooth covering on her breast to the downy tufts around her legs.

"So soft... and so quiet..." whispered Harry. "Muon to Yuki..." The owl dipped her head twice at the words.

"What's that?" asked the assistant.

"Muon to Yuki," repeated Harry.

"What kind of language is that?"

"Japanese," said Harry distractedly. "I can't speak it, but I picked up a few words from a friend. If I'm remembering right, it means 'silence and snow'."

"I suppose it's as good a name as any," said the assistant grudgingly. "She seems to like it, anyway."

"How much? And what will I need, to take care of her properly?" The shop door opened, and Mandy let herself in, waving to Harry.

"Like I said, we don't get snowys here very often. Forty Galleons."

"And I thought you were having trouble getting rid of her?" said Harry, gesturing to the sales board, where the highest price was fifteen Galleons. "Hello Mandy, did you get everything you needed?"

"All right, tell you what... thirty-five Galleons, and I'll throw in the cage and a perch, plus some owl treats and our care handbook."

Mandy beckoned Harry over, and whispered in his ear.

"Thirty, and make it two perches. We've a big house."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"Thanks Mandy," said Harry as they reappeared in Inverse House's main hall. "Could you set up Muon's things in our bedroom once you're finished unpacking?"

"Of course, Master Harry," said Mandy, then popped off with her bags of fabric.

"All right, Muon," Harry went on, "through here is the living room. I suppose this is the best place for your other perch." He pushed the door open and went in, Muon taking wing and gliding across the room as he did.

Suddenly, a shrill female voice from behind the door snapped "_Petrificus Totalus!_", and Harry toppled over as his arms and legs snapped together. Muon barked loudly several times from her perch on a chair back. Then something prodded Harry in the shoulder, and the woman said, "No, you're not the one I want. Where is she, boy?"

"Right behind you, old woman," came Lina's voice. "Now, release him!"

"You can't just order me around," said the woman, her voice rising. "Do you know who I am?"

"I don't care," said Lina in a sing-song voice. "Release him!"

"Aaah! All right, all right! _Finite!_"

Mobility restored, Harry rolled to his feet, then gawked in amazement. There was his erstwhile captor, an extremely short and dumpy older woman dressed in pink robes. Behind her was Lina, looking just as Harry saw her in the mirror from behind her eyes, holding her sword to the woman's back. Judging by their poses, Lina had just let the woman feel the tip of her blade in her flesh.

Lina winked at Harry, then raised a hand and called "_Laphas Seed!_" Magical ropes sprang into being around the woman, and wrapped around her, restraining her completely. "That should hold her for a while," she said, sheathing her sword, then held her arms open to Harry. "How about a hug, little brother?"

The Lina inside Harry seemed to give an unconcerned shrug. Harry shook himself, then leapt into Lina's embrace, wrapping his arms around her. Tears ran down his cheeks, wetting her hair as he whispered, "Big sis, big sis, is it really you?"

"It's really me, Harry. Well, as much as possible anyway."

"Huh? **How**?" Harry pulled away slightly, and looked her in the eyes, which were themselves suspiciously moist.

Lina giggled. "I'm **really** tempted to say 'himitsu desu' right now, but you actually need to know." She turned her head towards the door. "Mandy, it's safe to come in now."

The house-elf walked cautiously into the room, then straightened up when she saw the woman on the floor, and went to stand in front of her proudly.

"Mandy," snapped the woman. "That little chit murdered my cousins, your masters! Restrain her and the boy, and release me!"

Mandy just folded her arms.

"Mandy you worthless little piece of filth! Do as I say!" The woman's leg twitched slightly, as if she was used to backing up such commands with a stamp of her foot.

Mandy turned to Lina and Harry. "Mistress Lina, Master Harry, this is Dolores Umbridge, cousin to Morsus and Turpis Umbridge, who you **slew in lawful combat**," she stressed, turning back to the woman. "Magic has declared Mistress Lina to be your Head of House. You have attacked one who is under her protection, and are hoping to attack her too. Do you think your magic will allow you to get away with that?"

Dolores looked frightened, then confused. "But... how?" She rallied herself again. "How can she possibly be the head of House Umbridge, you stupid creature?"

Harry growled at that, and Lina prodded Dolores with a foot. "Stop calling Mandy names. She's a valued member of House **Inverse**, which is more than we can say about you, at the moment."

"House Inverse? What nonsense is that? And don't you take that tone with me, you little—"

"_Shut up_," said Lina forcefully. Dolores' mouth clamped itself closed, much to her surprise and consternation.

"**Now** do you believe she's your head of house?" said Mandy, smirking. "That was the Head's Command, right there."

"So, who exactly is this... Dolores?" asked Lina.

Mandy nodded. "Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Mistress. It's a position of extreme trust and responsibility—"

"Sort of like you, Mandy," interjected Harry.

Mandy blushed and went on, "Except she got her position by ruthlessly cutting down her co-workers and bribing her superiors, when she couldn't blackmail them. Her father Orford was the black sheep of the family; he married a muggle and even after she left him he couldn't get a decent position. Dolores forced him out of his menial job at the Ministry so she could claim to be a pure-blood. It's the only way she could rise as high as she did, given the current social climate."

"So..." said Lina, smirking. "You have a secret. And you seem to be perfectly aware of how **helpful** people can be when they have secrets..." Dolores managed to combine fear, apprehension, and anger into one facial expression.

"What was she doing here?" asked Harry.

"Good question, Harry," said Lina. "What was your plan?"

Free to talk, Dolores said, "I had an agent watch for you in Diagon Alley. When he reported your presence, I came here and waited for you. If I could dispose of you quietly, I would be given control of House Umbridge."

"I thought the house head needed to be male?" said Lina, then added, "Before I changed the rules, obviously."

"I would be regent, until I could bear a son and he came of age. Most of the political power would still be mine, and I would have nearly unrestricted access to the family vaults."

"But surely you wouldn't have been given the position if you were in prison for murder?" asked Harry.

"You mean like she was?" spat Dolores.

Mandy cleared her throat, and said, "Mistress Lina was kidnapped by your cousins, who used an Unforgivable on her, and intended to do her permanent harm. The House magic, and that of the Gringotts vault, was satisfied that she acted in self-defence, and the Goblins made a deposition to Magical Law Enforcement to that effect. Mistress Lina was informed three weeks ago that her right of conquest would stand, and no charges would be forthcoming." She grinned at Dolores, who snarled back.

"And what have you done with that creature, anyway," she said. "Speaking out of turn, and talking as if it was a proper wizard?"

It was Harry that 'poked' Dolores with a foot this time. "Mandy is **not** 'that creature'! She's really kind and helpful, and she's our friend!" Muon winged over from her perch to land on Harry's shoulder, and rubbed her head against his. Harry let go of his sudden anger and scratched the back of her head, murmuring "thanks" to her.

While Muon was calming Harry down, Lina explained, "House elves are surprisingly adaptable, you know; whatever you project onto them, you get back. Your cousins needed a servile creature they could push around, so that's what they saw. Harry and I need a helpful, intelligent friend, so that's what Mandy has become for us."

"It helps that Mistress and Master have far more magic than your cousins could ever dream of," interjected Mandy.

"Hang on though," said Harry, responding to a mental prod from his Inner Lina. "We're getting distracted here. How could she," gesturing to Dolores, "expect to get away with 'disposing of you'?"

Dolores squirmed slightly.

"Well?" asked Other Lina. "_Answer him!_"

Dolores tried to resist, then screwed her face up in pain, and the words tumbled out in a rush. "I appropriated a Time Turner from the Department of Mysteries! I spent the afternoon and early evening working with the Minister, then Turned myself back to deal with you!"

"Let's see it then," said Harry. Dolores nodded pointedly at the ropes restraining her, then glared at Lina.

Harry asked Lina, "Should we trust her?"

"No, but I think she understands how badly it could go for her if she decided to be naughty," Lina replied, then gestured, causing the ropes to vanish. "Go on then, hand it over."

Dolores reluctantly pulled a small golden pendant from around her neck and passed it to Harry, pulling her hand back quickly as Muon snapped at her. "How does it work?" Harry asked.

"Turn the casing once for each hour you want to go back — no more than six," said Dolores, grudgingly, "then spin the hourglass to set it going."

"Cool!" said Harry, then had to bite his tongue to stop from blurting out his sudden epiphany as to where the spare Lina had come from. Outer Lina gave him a confirming wink, while a warm rush from inside him attested to Inner Lina's realisation of the potential.

"You can't have it, you know," said Dolores, sweetly. "I have to return it to the Department of Mysteries tonight." Her smile grew in response to Harry's crestfallen look. "Even I wouldn't be able to cover it up, if it were to go missing."

Outer Lina came over and gave him a one-armed hug, keeping Dolores covered with her sword. "Don't worry Harry, we'll work something out." With Harry's body obscuring Dolores' line of sight, she wrapped his hand closed around the Time Turner, then pulled its later instance from her tunic. Stepping past Harry, she bent and handed it back to Dolores.

"Well," said Lina, "it's been nice having you visit, Dolores, but I suppose an important woman like you has to be on her way. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you hear about something we should know about, and make sure you don't do anything that might work against us." She glared at Dolores, letting her magic flare briefly. "_Those are orders_, by the way. Mandy, if you could show our guest out?"

Mandy nodded and gestured at the door, causing it to open. Dolores huffed, but at a frown from Lina she gathered herself together and left, followed by Mandy.

Lina relaxed and sheathed her sword. "Gods, I **hate** putting on those airs and graces for self-important gits like her." She pulled Harry another proper hug, displacing Muon, who returned to her perch and snapped her beak once at Lina. "I'm sorry we couldn't keep it. Like I said though, we'll work something out." Letting Harry go, she stood at arm's length and examined him properly for the first time. "By my reckoning we've got five and a half hours before you need to go back and rescue yourself. Any ideas what we could do?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know..."

"I'll cook a feast to celebrate you getting to see each other," called Mandy as she passed along the hall.

"I suppose..." said Harry, despondently.

"What's up?" asked Lina.

"Well... that, basically! You already **know** what I'm going to say; it's not like we can have a proper conversation or anything. At first I though being able to talk to you and stuff would be amazing, but now..." Inner Lina tried to give him comforting feelings, but hers were tinged with sadness too.

"Actually, I have a way round that," grinned Outer Lina. "Could you let the earlier me take over for a moment? And get ready to take back control as soon as you can."

Confused, but trusting Lina completely, Harry nodded, and relaxed, allowing the earlier version of Lina to take over. His form shifted into a duplicate of the later Lina already there, who giggled as she looked over her earlier self.

"Well, this isn't weird in any way," commented the earlier version.

"Yeah... look, I remember not wanting to have this chance to spend time with Harry just be like watching a repeat on his teevee thing. So, please don't resist?" Earlier Lina gave a sudden grin of understanding, and nodded, opening her arms in a 'come at me' gesture. Later Lina leaned forward and said _Sleeping_, tapping Earlier Lina gently on the head. She started to fall, but Harry took over almost immediately, and caught himself with Later Lina's help. "Okay, then. The next thing I remember after going to sleep there is being woken up by myself, just before I went back in time to rescue you. So, everything we do until then will be a complete surprise."

Harry threw himself into her arms again, crying. Lina rocked him until his tears subsided, then helped him dry his eyes.

"What do you want to do then?" said Harry.

"Well, given how soppy and emotional you've been, I though we could start off with a **tickle fight**!" said Lina, jumping at her little brother.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Although they played a few games, and enjoyed Mandy's feast greatly, Harry and Lina spent most of the evening deep in conversation, discussing the things they'd seen over the last few weeks, and making plans for the future. By mutual consent they avoided talking about their impending reduction into one body again, or any means by which they could resume their independent existences. Finally Mandy reminded them that the time had come for Earlier Lina to leave to deal with Dolores, and they hugged again.

"**Not** for the last time," said Lina positively. "We'll find a way to get me my own body eventually. And maybe we'll be able to borrow a Time Turner again, now and then. Until then, I'll always be with you, little brother."

"Thanks big sis... look, can you put me to sleep for the rest of the time, please?" asked Harry. "I'd rather have that time be really just you, without me watching from behind your eyes."

"Of course," said Lina. "Let me wake Earlier Me up, then I'll put you down for the night." She reached out a hand to Harry, but he raised his to stop her.

"Hang on, she— you— just woke up. I'll catch you later, all right?"

"Night night, Harry. _Sleeping_"

Earlier Lina took over as Harry started to slump over, and caught herself. "Still weird. Will I have a good time?"

"Of course," said Later Lina. "Off you go then."

Earlier Lina flashed her a grin as she span the Time Turner and vanished. Now-the-only Lina smiled to herself, yawned, and went up to bed.

-=o=-

A few hours previously, Professor Dumbledore had had his dinner interrupted by the arrival of a barn owl, bearing a letter from an old associate. Absently dismissing the courier, he glanced over the contents, then folded it and gestured to Professors Snape and McGonagall to draw near. The pair leant in from either side, raising their eyebrows questioningly.

"Garrick Ollivander has just let me know that Harry Potter came to buy his wand today. Apparently he is in good health, physically and mentally, and did not appear to be to be under any stress or duress. More than that, he was unable to discover."

"Well, that's something at least," commented McGonagall, ignoring Snape's sneer. "If you can't find the boy, he must be somewhere safe."

"The goblins know something, I'm sure," replied Dumbledore. "But they're keeping as tight-lipped about the whole thing as you would expect. Somewhat vexing, to say the least..."

‹_And he didn't get __**the**__ wand...›_ mused the ancient headmaster. ‹_What does this bode?›_

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The next day saw the start of a modified routine for Harry and Lina. In addition to their regular exercises, Harry began practising simple spells with his wand — _Lumos_ first, because he was already familiar with the _Lighting_ spell, which made it easier to judge how much power to use, then (once he was confident that he could keep the wand from exploding) he tried his hand at the matchstick-to-needle Transfiguration exercise, mainly because it was completely unlike any spell that Lina or he already knew.

They also devoted a hour or so each night attempting to improve communication between the 'front' and 'back' person, as they came to refer to themselves. Actual speech appeared to be beyond them, for the moment at least, but strong emotions came across quite well, although it could be quite draining to project them deliberately.

Harry made sure to spend time with Muon at various points each day, taking her out to fly in the park across from the house in the dusk each night. Lina spent some time with her as well, but it was very apparent that Muon really only put up with her for Harry's sake, and far preferred to be with him.

Along with their previous studies, exercises, and projects, they kept themselves quite busy during the remaining weeks of summer, until the First of September finally came.

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Lina has gained a toady, but will it turn out to be a viper in her bosom?

What no-one involved in the incident at Ollivander's realised is that Harry is a sorcerer, not a wizard. He doesn't just push magic out of his core, he **channels** it from his surroundings. Wands are amplifying and focussing devices; they don't stand up well when fed an already-amplified input.

And of course Muon is Hedwig's analogue. This Harry isn't in the same mindset as the modal ones, so he came up with a suitable name himself instead of searching for it in a history book. (Plus, I'm hoping that if she's named something different, she won't die in such a disappointingly meaningless way.)

Hedwig, though a girl owl, is played by boy owls in the films. Girl snowy owls are substantially larger than the boys, and usually have bold, regular black chevrons on their feathers where the boys only have a light scattering. I haven't been able to find a contradicting description in the books, which means that most people's mental pictures of Hedwig are based on the film version, and hence are probably quite wrong.


	5. ENTRANCE! Harry débuts at Hogwarts!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Sorry this one took so long. The conversation on the train refused to cooperate, and took four rewrites to get to the point where I was happy with it.

Once again, thanks to everyone who is following, has favourited, or has reviewed this story.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathic hats.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**ENTRANCE! Harry débuts at Hogwarts!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

"All right, that's everything as far as I can see," said Harry. "Can you think of anything I've missed, Mandy?"

"I don't think so, Master Harry," replied Mandy. "If you've forgotten anything important, I can always pop it to you once you're in your dorm."

"Are you sure that'll be all right? I thought you said students weren't supposed to have house elves at Hogwarts?"

"Well," said Mandy, smirking, "there's a big difference between 'not supposed to' and 'actually incapable of', isn't there? Anyway, I won't be there every moment, waiting on you hand and foot..." she shared a grin with Harry at that, as very little of that went on anyway, "but if you ever need me for something, you can always call. And if Mistress Lina's needed back here for something, I'll pop up and get you."

"As long as it's not in the middle of class," said Harry with another grin.

"I'll try to give you advance warning. I'm sure Muon won't mind taking a note from me." Said owl bobbed her head a couple of times in agreement.

"Speaking of," said Harry, turning to Muon, "have you decided if you're flying up to Hogwarts, or coming on the train with me?"

Muon launched off her perch by the window and glided over to Harry's trunk, landing next to her cage.

"All right, you can come and make friends too. I'll see if you can spend the journey out of your cage." Muon bobbed her head again. "And Mandy..." Harry paused, unsure of how to phrase his next point.

"Yes, Master Harry?"

"If you start to feel... odd, or whatever, like you're not getting enough magic..."

Mandy came over to him and laid a hand on his arm, nodding understandingly. "If Mandy be talkings like stupid slave house elfsies, Mandy be coming to see Master."

Harry laughed despite himself. "Try not to let it get that bad though, please?"

"I won't, Master Harry," Mandy assured him. "Anyway, it's more to do with what you and Mistress Lina expect and want."

"All right then," said Harry, nodding. "Lina's been poking me for the last five minutes; I think she wants to say something to you as well. Hang on..." Harry relaxed, and Lina took over.

"Did you get it?" she said, without any preamble.

"Yes, Mistress Lina. Here it is," said Mandy, and snapped her fingers, causing a pile of folded clothes to appear on the chair beside her.

"Excellent!" said Lina. "Thanks, Mandy! Now, should I change into it now... probably better, just in case." Suiting action to word, she began pulling off her tunic.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Mandy, "what do you want with a Gryffindor girl's uniform anyway?"

"Ah," said Lina, pulling on the uniform skirt. "Himitsu desu, Mandy. I want to keep it as a surprise for Harry."

"Well..." said Mandy. "You can tell me all about it once you've played whatever prank you have in mind, then."

"Don't worry Mandy, I will."

"Now," said Mandy, looking severely at Lina, "I won't be able to look after Master Harry all the time, so you'll have to do it. And that means stopping him from doing anything silly, yes?"

"Yes Mandy," mock-grumbled Lina, shrugging into the uniform robes. "Even though we know it was Headbastard Dumbdoor that left Harry with his aunt, we won't fireball his bony arse into next week."

"Not until we have some actual proof anyway, Mistress," said Mandy. "Bonehewer wasn't able to find out any more without raising too many questions, especially with the old man poking his nose into things the last month or so. Hopefully once Harry shows up and term starts he'll be too busy to keep on at it." She gathered up Lina's favourite outfit and sword, then packed them into the secret compartment in Harry's trunk that already contained a change of clothes for her. "And remember, try to stay off the subject of Sirius Black as well." Bonehewer had just the previous day written to them about some anomalies in Harry's godfather's case.

Lina nodded. "Hopefully Bonehewer will be able to dig up something about that soon. If he needs any help, from any of us, let us know." Mandy nodded as Lina checked herself out in the full-length mirror. She ignored its muttered comments about her hair, grinned at her reflection, then knelt to give Mandy a hug. "I'll miss having you around, Mandy. Don't forget to write, and call me if you need anything."

"I'll miss you too, Mistress Lina. Stay out of trouble, and I'll see you as often as I can."

Lina gave Mandy another squeeze, then let Harry take over again. "Time to go, I suppose," he said, sounding a little down.

"Now Master Harry, you should be looking forward to this! Meeting new friends, learning new magic... it should be fun!"

"Yes... but Lina isn't going to be able to enjoy it properly. Even though she'll be able to wander about at night, she won't really get to meet people."

"You're a very good boy, Master Harry, to worry about Mistress Lina like that. I'm sure she'll find ways to amuse herself while you're at school."

"I hope so, Mandy." Harry collected himself, then opened Muon's cage. "In you get then, Muon. And get ready for popping." Muon hopped into the cage, took a firm grip of the perch inside, and bobbed her head.

"Here's some food for your journey," said Mandy, producing a small satchel. "From what I've heard the train only has sweets available."

"Thanks, Mandy." Harry put the satchel over his shoulder, lifted Muon's cage with one hand, and gripped Mandy's hand tightly with his other. Mandy laid her free hand on Harry's trunk, then popped them directly to Platform 9¾.

-=o=-

Harry was quite used to popping by this point, even if it was mostly a vicarious experience, but the transition from the quiet of Inverse House to the bustle of the platform was quite disorienting. Mandy quickly led him away from the apparition point, but Harry's attention was swamped by the sight and sound of more than two hundred children and teenagers running around, saying goodbye to their families, and greeting friends not seen for months.

"I'd better be going now, Master Harry," Mandy said, tugging his arm to rouse him from his daze.

"What? Oh, sorry Mandy." Harry put Muon's cage down and knelt to give Mandy a final hug. "Keep safe Mandy, and have fun." His eyes were getting suspiciously moist again.

"Don't you worry about me, Master Harry. I'll probably see you in a week or so, knowing Mistress Lina. And I'll keep myself busy in the mean time. Now, off you go!" She gave Harry a final squeeze, then stepped back. Harry took up Muon's cage again, lifted his trunk by one end, and headed to the second carriage from the front.

-=o=-

Inside the train it was much less busy. Only a handful of students had boarded before him, so he was able to drag his trunk along the corridor without obstacles. He was passing the first compartment, which had been claimed by an older couple who were busy reacquainting themselves with each others' tonsils, when he spotted a large brown toad squeeze its way out of the next compartment. Harry carefully set Muon and his trunk down, then stepped up quickly and grabbed the toad as it began a determined march down the corridor.

Straightening up, Harry knocked on the compartment door, then slid it open as the round-faced boy inside looked up. "Er... hello. Are you missing something?" He held out the toad-bearing hand.

"Trevor!" said the boy, standing quickly and taking the amphibian. "That's the third time this morning. Thank you...?"

"Harry," supplied Harry.

"I'm Neville," said the other boy. "Would you care to join me? If you haven't found somewhere already, that is."

"Thanks, I will," said Harry. "Hang on." He ducked back down the corridor and retrieved Muon and his trunk, then took them into the compartment. Setting the cage down again, he took off the satchel and looked around.

"We're supposed to put our trunks up in those racks," said Neville, "but I can't manage it on my own."

"Maybe together?" said Harry. It wasn't easy, but with some effort they managed to get both trunks stowed safely for the journey.

"Would you mind if my owl came out?" asked Harry.

Neville eyed Muon doubtfully, then shrugged. "As long as it doesn't eat Trevor, I suppose it's alright."

Muon cocked her head and opened her beak half-way, making a strangled »prek« sound.

"I **think** that means that she knows Trevor would taste bad. Actually, she's more likely to warn us if he tries to escape again. She's very smart." Harry opened the cage door and held his arm so Muon could hop out. "This is Muon to Yuki, Muon for short."

Neville grinned and gave a short bow to the owl. "Neville Longbottom, at your service."

"Oh?" said Harry. "Any relation to Alice Longbottom?"

"That's... she's my mother," said Neville, looking slightly downcast.

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "It must be awful. However..." He bowed to Neville, then held out his hand. "Harry Potter, at **your** service. It's good to finally meet you, god-brother."

"Oh?" said Neville, shaking the offered hand and glancing up at Harry's scar for a split second. "Oh!" At Harry's questioning look he went on, "I've heard of you, of course; not just the unbelievable stories that everyone tells, but some things Gran told me too. This isn't the first time we've met, you know; our mothers were close, and apparently we played together when they visited each other. But then... well, you disappeared, and my parents..."

Harry put a sympathetic hand on Neville's shoulder as he started to tear up. "It's okay, you don't need to talk about it."

Neville sniffed. "Thanks. Anyway, Gran tried to find out where you'd gone for a couple of years, but eventually she had to give up. Then a few weeks ago she heard a rumour that you'd been seen around Diagon Alley, and that Dumbledore was trying to find you. It's brought back all the old worries she had, and she's been spending a lot of time asking around..." He tailed off, obviously wanting details, but too polite to ask.

Harry paused, wondering how much to say. "Your Gran, that would be Madam Augusta?" Neville nodded. "I've heard about her. You should definitely let her know that I'm safe; I've found somewhere much better to live, and I have a guardian to look out for me, as well as the best house elf ever to help us." He paused again, then went on, "The rest... well, it's a bit personal, if you know what I mean. I'll probably tell you once we know each other better. We **are** going to be friends, aren't we?"

Neville looked a bit apprehensive. "Well, if you want... I'm nothing much, you know..."

"You're my god-brother, that's good enough for me," said Harry, smiling. Neville started to blush, and the silence that followed may have become awkward if it hadn't been broken by a knock on the compartment door.

Outside was a bushy-haired girl about their own age. Harry slid the door open again, and asked, "Care to join us?"

"Yes please," said the girl, somewhat breathlessly, and started lugging her trunk in.

"Let us help you with that," said Neville.

"Please," replied the girl. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. I take it you're both first-years too?"

"Yup," said Harry. "This is Neville Longbottom, and I'm Harry Potter."

"I thought so. I've read quite a bit about you," said Hermione. A »snap« came from behind Harry, and he stood aside and said, "And this is Muon, and over there is Trevor," gesturing at the toad.

"She's beautiful," breathed Hermione, as Neville took the other end of her trunk. "Snowy owl, yes? And she is a 'she'? Why did you name her after a high-energy lepton?"

"Eh? It's Japanese; it means 'Silence'. And yes, she's a girl snowy owl."

"Ah. All right, are you ready Neville?"

Neville nodded, and heaved as hard as he could. Hermione got her end off the ground, but after struggling for a few seconds Neville had to give up.

"Sorry Her... Her-mio-ne. It's a bit too much for me. Harry, could you help?"

Hermione blushed as Harry took over from Neville. "I may have packed too many books."

"No kidding," gasped Harry, hoisting his end. With Neville helping to guide it, they managed to get Hermione's trunk stowed safely.

"I'm sorry about that," she said as they sat down, Neville and Harry (and Muon) across from Hermione. "But thank you for helping, both of you."

"It's fine," said Harry. "We're going to be spending most of the next seven years together; we should at least try to be friends."

"Oh..." said Hermione, ducking her head shyly. "That would be nice..."

"I should say though, if you've read any of the books about me, you may be in for a disappointment. I'm nowhere near as cool as they suggest."

"Well, I didn't bother with the Harry Potter And The... stuff; they're so obviously fiction. But the reports of the... incident... were interesting, and they did describe your looks pretty accurately."

Harry was about to respond when several boys, at least half of them redheads, ran past their compartment laughing noisily. The youngest redhead was left in their wake, and came over to the door, sliding it open tentatively.

"Hi... do you have space for one more? I think the rest of the train is about full." As if to back his point up, the engine's whistle sounded.

Neville looked at Harry and Hermione and shrugged. When Hermione shrugged back, Harry turned to the boy. "No problem. Do you want a hand with your trunk?"

"It's all right," said the boy. "I'll manage." It was a bit of a struggle, but he got it stowed without any mishaps, then sat down beside Hermione just as the train began to move off. "I'm Ron Weasley. You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"

Harry nodded, and the others introduced themselves, and the animals. Ron produced a half-dead rat, which he called 'Scabbers'. He put him back in his pocket again when Muon expressed an interest in him, even though Harry was confident she'd behave herself.

"Anyone fancy a game of Exploding Snap?" asked Ron.

"Pardon?" asked Hermione, obviously confused. Harry shrugged to her, never having heard of the game himself.

"No thanks," said Neville, "it's a bit too... intense for me. But you go ahead."

Ron ignored Neville, and turned to Hermione in incredulity. "You've never heard of Exploding Snap? Oh wait— you're a Muggle-born, right?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "And I've played Snap, but like Neville, I don't like it much."

"Just 'Snap'? Sounds boring," replied Ron. "What about other games then?"

"Well, I've played most of the usual kid's board games, but the only one I really like is Scrabble." Hermione looked embarrassed for a moment. "And I tried to learn chess, but I've never got the hang of it. Mostly I like reading and learning things."

Ron, whose face had lit up momentarily when she mentioned chess, fell again. "Chess is cool though, and I'm pretty good at it," he said. "Maybe we could have a game later? The rest of it..." He mimed a yawn.

Neville frowned at him. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying something quiet; I spend a lot of time working in my greenhouse." He turned to Hermione and said, "You should tell us more about these other games. We don't have all that many in the magical world. What's Scrabble?"

"Oh," said Hermione, "it's a word game. I've actually got a small set in my trunk." She looked up at the overhead rack and shook her head. "I'll show you later, but basically you get tiles with letters on, and use them to make words. The harder the word is, the more points you get for it."

"Seriously?" said Ron. "That's the sort of thing Muggles do to have fun? Sounds really boring; I'm glad I'm a wizard." Hermione looked hurt, and the other two glared at him. Ron ignored them and went on, "If you enjoy all that other stuff, you'll end up in Ravenclaw for sure." He turned to the others. "What houses do you think you'll be in? I'm for Gryffindor."

Although Ron had effectively excluded Hermione, the boys let her answer first. "Well, Ravenclaw would be nice," she said, "but I think I'd rather be in Gryffindor."

"Are you going by personality, or elemental affinity?" asked Harry. The others looked at him questioningly. "Same thing really, but if your magic has a strong bias towards one element, it might affect which house you end up in."

"What **are** you on about?" said Ron. "It's simple: the best go in Gryffindor, the swots go in Ravenclaw, the duffers go in Hufflepuff, and the evil gits go in Slytherin."

Hermione looked as though she was about to explode, but Harry spoke first, shaking his head. "There's a lot more to it than that. Look at the house colours. Gryffindor is red—"

"And gold", interrupted Ron.

"Ignore the metals," continued Harry. "Red, blue, yellow, and green."

"Oh!" said Hermione. "Like a Ludo set! And my primary school split us into four teams for sports, and they used those colours too!"

"That's right," nodded Harry. "They're like... the four basic colours, but they're also the four elements." Hermione gazed at him raptly, gesturing for him to continue. Ron's eyes were starting to glaze over, but Neville was looking interested too, so Harry started a more detailed explanation.

"Well, red is for Fire. It's associated with bravery and righteousness—"

"That's Gryffindor, all right," interrupted Ron.

"—but also lack of planning and forethought, and a quick temper," said Harry, looking meaningfully at Ron. It largely went over his head.

"Fire also has aspects of cleansing," added Hermione, "in the sense of burning away everything that's old or tainted, to allow something new to grow."

Harry nodded. "Good point. Yellow is for Earth, which is strong, reliable, supporting, and fertile. It can also be stubborn, and practical in a way that **some** people would consider boring." Harry turned to his god-brother. "Neville, if you like working with plants, you may be strong in Earth. Don't let Ron's Gryffindorish lack of tact put you off Hufflepuff, if you think you could fit in there." Neville nodded, thoughtfully.

"Next is blue, for Air," said Harry. Hermione was practically bouncing in her seat, so he waved for her to take over.

She grinned at him, then said, "The primary aspects of air are intelligence, inquisitiveness, higher learning, and communication; 'swots' as Ron put it. All the Ravenclaw strong points, and yes, I would fit well there. However, it can also be flighty and disconnected from practical things, and I don't think that describes me too well.

"Finally, Slytherin, green, is water. Calm, subtle, and adaptable; associated with cleansing and healing, but also cold and sometimes highly destructive."

Harry grinned back at Hermione, then winked. "That's right. A good chess player has a lot of Slytherin traits."

"**WOT**?" shouted Ron. "I'm not one of those evil gits! I'd rather die than be sorted into Slytherin!"

The compartment door slid open again. "You'd never be welcome in our house anyway, Weasley," said the pinch-faced blond boy outside. Leaving two larger boys hovered in the corridor, he turned to Harry and stepped in, holding out his hand. "I was told you were on the train. Malfoy," he said, "Draco Malfoy."

Harry rose and shook his hand politely. "Harry Potter."

"Of course. I had hoped to introduce you to some of the proper sort; it's unfortunate that your first trip on the Hogwarts Express has been spoiled by mudbloods and blood-traitors. Shall we?" and he turned to leave, guiding Harry towards the door.

"Actually, we were having a very interesting conversation about the links between the Hogwarts houses and the four elements," said Harry. "You're welcome to join in — and your friends," he indicated the two outside. "It may be a bit of a squeeze, but I'm sure we'd be comfortable."

Malfoy glanced at Hermione and turned up his nose, sniffing ostentatiously. "I'd rather not. The air is a little... **tainted** in here. I'm sure we could continue your conversation in more refined company." He made to usher Harry out again.

"No thanks," said Harry, sitting back down. "I'm comfortable here. Maybe we could talk once we've arrived?"

"We'll see," said Malfoy. He went out and headed down the corridor, leaving it to one of his companions to slide the door shut.

"See what I mean?" said Ron. "Evil git, going to Slytherin. Dead simple."

"I'm not so sure," said Harry. "He's not very subtle, and I don't think he could have held on to his temper much longer. With that much Fire in his character, he may fit better into Gryffindor."

"As if," scoffed Ron. "Where did you two get all this Elemental stuff from anyway? I thought you were Muggle-raised?"

"I was," Harry replied, "and Hermione is Muggle-born, but she's learned something about the associations, and worked the rest out just now. However, I found out about magic a few years ago, and I've been learning and practising ever since."

"But that's illegal!" gasped Hermione. "How did you manage to avoid being detected by the Ministry?"

"Um, well, two reasons," said Harry. "The second one... this summer I moved to an old Magical home. Even if the house wards don't mask it, the Ministry assumes that any magic they detect from a Magical home was performed by an adult." He looked to Ron and Neville for support, and they both nodded in confirmation.

"But... but that's **so** **UNFAIR**," cried Hermione, flushing with anger.

"Too right," said Harry, "and now I can see why you want to be in Gryffindor. Wanting to take on the world and fix everything?" He grinned at the incensed girl, who nodded fiercely.

"What was the first reason though?" asked Ron.

"Ah, well," said Harry. "The thing is... the magic I use isn't exactly the same as you're familiar with. Long before I found out about the magical world, or the Ministry, I was practising it... and the Ministry never noticed once."

"How?" said Ron.

"Well... _Lighting_," Harry intoned.

"How did you **do** that?!" squeaked Hermione. "You didn't use your wand, and that's not the light spell!"

"That's my point," said Harry. "I've been using a different kind of magic for about three years now."

"If you already know all that, why are you bothering to go to school?" said Ron.

"Well... Hermione, from a Muggle-born's viewpoint, what are the most useful spells?"

"Um, well... I'm not sure, but I'd say that household charms are probably the ones that would make the most difference to someone's life. Cleaning, heating, cooling, repairing... that sort of thing."

"That's exactly it; that's what I want to learn. Aside from a couple of tricks like the light spell, and being able to fly and stuff," he ignored the others' gasps, "all the spells I know are only good for blowing stuff up and killing people."

"But surely you haven't—" started Hermione, then cut off with a gasp when she saw Harry's face.

Bolstered by a wave of support from Lina, Harry said in a monotone, "I was attacked by two wizards. They made their intentions very clear. I had no way of escaping or getting help, and had to put them down before they could hurt me."

"I'm sorry," said Hermione hesitantly, reaching over to Harry. "I didn't realise..."

"No way you could have," said Harry. Neville was looking at him sympathetically, but obviously couldn't think of anything to say. "It's all right Neville. It's been ruled as legitimate self-defence."

Ron, however, had been gazing at Harry with awe. "That's so **cool**," he started, only to be overridden by Hermione.

"Are you really that thick? Obviously Harry doesn't feel good about it, even if it **was** the only thing he could do."

Ron blushed, then muttered, "Sorry Harry, didn't realise..."

"It's okay Ron," said Harry. "I just hope you're never in that sort of position yourself."

"Anyway," said Hermione, "tell us about some of the other games in the Magical world."

The others accepted her rather clumsy attempt to move the conversation to lighter topics, and the rest of the journey passed pleasantly.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

The booming voice, coming as it did from an equally impressive figure, was somewhat alarming to the youngest of the children. They were diverted away from the rest of the students, and led off by the huge man. He carried a lantern, but its light was of no use for navigating the treacherously steep, narrow path he took them to, so Harry quickly produced his ball of light again. Ron, Hermione, and Neville kept close to him, helping steady each other down the worst parts. From the sound of it, not all of the others were as lucky or as careful.

The first view of the castle was definitely impressive, as was the boat trip across the loch. Trevor tried to make a break for it a couple of times, but Muon (who didn't consider herself luggage to be left on the train, and was riding on Harry's shoulder) alerted Neville to the attempts in time to thwart them.

Once at the castle gates, the huge man handed them over to a stern-looking witch. Harry was too far back to hear her name at first, but from his and Lina's research he was fairly sure that this would be Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Head of the school.

She led them all to a room which was rather too small for the purpose, but asked Harry to stand aside while the others filed in.

"Mister Potter, I presume?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, Professor?"

"Normally students leave their pets in the train, to be collected with the rest of their luggage. I don't think the Sorting Ceremony is the proper place for an owl."

Harry adopted a conciliatory expression. "I'm sorry Professor, I wasn't aware. When Neville and Ron kept their pets in their pockets I assumed it would be all right. Muon would like to watch though, would it be possible? I promise she won't be a problem." Muon bobbed her head at this, and extended her wing around the back of Harry's head.

A tiny hint of a smile quirked the corner of McGonagall's mouth for an instant, before being hidden by her stern professional mien. "If she were to find a perch at the side of the hall, or in the rafters, I suppose it would be acceptable. However, it is normal for owls to spend most of their time in the Owlery."

"I'm sure she'll enjoy that," said Harry. Muon bobbed her head a couple of times.

The hint of a smile appeared briefly again. "All right then. Let's get started."

The professor ushered Harry into the room with the rest of the students. Calling for their attention, she gave them a short run-down on the purpose of the houses, without giving much detail, and then left them to their own devices.

"What was all that about?" asked Ron of Harry.

Harry waved it off as inconsequential. "Apparently I'm the first person to ever bring an owl to the Sorting. We were just arranging how to handle it."

"How **are** we sorted, anyway?" asked Hermione.

"Trust a mudblood to not know that," muttered a vaguely familiar voice from somewhere in the crowd.

"Ignore him," said Ron. "I don't know either, and neither does he."

"It's sort of a tradition," elaborated Neville, "to not tell anyone how the sorting works. Even though everyone older than us had to go through it."

"My brothers keep spinning these horrible stories, like fighting trolls or taking painful tests, but they're all nonsense," said Ron.

At that point several ghosts floated through the wall, in what Harry later decided was a staged prank. At the time he reacted in the same way as most of the rest of the students, jumping and gasping in shock. At least he didn't scream, like some of them. Hermione, after she calmed from the initial surprise, stage-whispered, "Of course, ghosts can't hurt you. Even a **muggle-born** knows that." Malfoy, who had heard her quite plainly, sneered back at her, but couldn't say much since one of the screams was quite definitely his.

Then Professor McGonagall returned, dismissed the ghosts, and led the students back into the entrance hall, to a pair of large double doors. They swung open at her gesture, revealing a large, grand room. All the students, seated at the four long House tables, and the staff at the head table, turned to examine the new inductees.

Of course, everyone's attention was pulled from them as Muon took flight and made her way to the rafters, finding a suitably dramatic perch at the edge of the sky enchantment.

"That's some impressive charms work on the ceiling," commented Harry in a whisper.

Hermione nodded excitedly. "I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since I read about it."

"Floating candles and gold place-settings are a bit much though," noted Neville.

Professor McGonagall brought out a small stool and placed it in the middle of the hall, then placed on it what in olden times would only be described as a 'shocking bad hat'.

Which proceeded to sing to them.

Badly.

All the sitting students thought it was wonderful though, and applauded vigorously once it had finished its pun-laden doggerel. While the Hat was taking its bows, Neville pulled the other three together, and said, "You three are all pretty sure of making it into Gryffindor, right?" They nodded. "All right, I'm trying for there too. You're probably right about the Earth thing Harry, but that won't change wherever I go, and I'd rather be with friends."

Harry clapped him on the shoulder, but at that point the hall fell silent, and Professor McGonagall stepped forward again, carrying a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the Hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

The blonde girl who came forward put on the Hat and sat down for a moment, then the Hat announced "**Hufflepuff!**" to cheers from that house's table. She took the Hat off and went to join her new house-mates.

The list of students went on, slightly more of them going to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw than the other two houses. Harry took the opportunity to have a look at the upper years, and noted that in three cases at least they did seem to fit the stereotypes: the Gryffindors were boisterous and animated, the Ravenclaws were polite and refined, and the Hufflepuffs were warm and welcoming. The Slytherins, however, while somewhat cold, as would be expected, also had a rather snobbish air, and several of them looked quite cruel — both of Malfoy's friends had been sorted there, and they didn't look especially pleasant. ‹_I hope that's just my imagination, not Ron's 'evil git' theory actually proving to be true.›_

He was brought out of his musings by McGonagall calling out "Granger, Hermione." His new female friend shot forward eagerly and jammed the Hat over her head. She sat there for a good three minutes, before it finally announced "**Gryffindor!**"

When Neville's turn came up, he also took longer than most, but was sent to Gryffindor as he intended. Malfoy, on the other hand, needn't have bothered putting the Hat on, given how little it deliberated before sending him to Slytherin. ‹_Something's definitely not right there.›_

Shortly thereafter, it was Harry's turn. Ignoring the whispers, he walked to the stool and donned the Hat.

"_Hmmm... interesting,"_ said a voice in his head. "_A thirst for knowledge, a drive to achieve, loyalty, bravery... you could do well in any house. Stronger in ambition and bravery though, so let's rule the other two out."_

‹_Um... excuse me? Can you hear me?›_ thought Harry.

"_Of course I can,"_ replied the Hat. "_Do you have a preference?"_

‹_Well, I'd rather stick with my friends in Gryffindor, if that's all right,›_ thought Harry, ‹_but what I wanted to ask was: why are you using 'ambition' as the deciding factor for Slytherin? What happened to subtlety, cunning, and adaptability?›_

"_I— I— I— I— I—I—I—I—"_ the Hat stammered, sounding more and more strained as it went on. Harry thought quickly.

‹_Look, if you're under some sort of geas to not talk about it, don't try. I understand.›_

"_Thank you."_ The Hat sounded decidedly relieved. "_Now, going strictly by the criteria, you should be in Slytherin, but I am allowed some leeway to account for personal preference."_

‹_Perhaps you should look a little deeper?›_ suggested Harry, trying to allow Lina some access without having her take over completely. ‹_Don't look too hard though, there may be... side-effects.›_

"_Let me see... __**MERCIFUL MERLIN!**__ I can't put you in Slytherin; you'd kill half of them before the week was out! Better be—"_  
>"<strong>GRYFFINDOR!<strong>"

Ignoring the chant of "We Got Potter!" from further up the table, Harry quickly made his way over to Neville and Hermione. "You both took a while; did you have to argue with it?"

Hermione shrugged. "Not really. I just wanted to talk to it."

Neville nodded. "It though I would fit better in Hufflepuff, especially when I explained why I wanted to be in Gryffindor, but eventually it admitted that I was brave enough."

"It looks like our theory on the elements was wrong though," said Hermione. "Water isn't associated with ambition in any way."

"I noticed that too," said Harry, "but when I asked the Hat about it, something stopped it from answering. I think it's been tampered with."

"Really?" said Hermione in shock. "But that means everyone's sorting is **wrong**!"

"What's wrong," said Ron, who joined them at that point. "Other than a couple of swots getting into Gryffindor?" He grinned at Hermione and Harry; they had settled that particular point on the train, and he was only joking.

"We may both have been right," said Harry. "Slytherin is supposed to be about adaptability and subtlety, but someone has done something to the Hat to make use ambition and... well, 'evil' I suppose... instead."

"Cor," said Ron, but couldn't say more as the hall fell silent. The Headmaster had stood up, and was welcoming them all to Hogwarts.

After the most nonsensical announcement Harry had ever heard, the tables suddenly groaned under the additional weight of a massive feast. Ron immediately abandoned all thoughts of the Hat and its problems, and started tearing into the food in a way that was very reminiscent of Lina.

At one point during the feast, Harry experienced a sudden sharp twinge in the area of his scar, but other than that he spent his time eating, chatting with his friends, and ignoring the glares of one particular staff member who apparently couldn't keep his eyes off him.

After the meal was over, Dumbledore made a few more announcements, which at least made **some** sense this time, and led the students in another awful song. Finally, they were dismissed.

A rather officious boy, who appeared to be related to Ron, gathered up the first years and began to lead them away. He stopped and glared at Muon as she glided down from her perch to land on Harry's shoulder. However, she rubbed her head against his, called _hoo-ah_ a couple of times, then flew back off to vanish out a skylight.

"She's gone to check out the Owlery," said Harry. Mollified, Percy the prefect led them out of the hall.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once safely in bed and behind drawn curtains, Harry let Lina take the fore.

"Well, that was interesting," she said. "It looks like you've managed to find your own versions of Gourry and Amelia." She felt Harry laugh at this; Ron did indeed resemble Lina's warrior companion, at least as far as his eating habits and perceptiveness were concerned, and Hermione's sense of justice mirrored that of the priestess princess. "Neville is definitely nice too. What's up with that teacher though? Snape, isn't it?" Harry registered confusion. "Don't worry, we'll find out. Anyway, you should get some sleep, Harry. I might go for an explore later, so don't panic and take back control if you wake up somewhere odd. We don't want you getting into trouble on your first night here." She gave control back to Harry, who wished her good night, and began to drift off.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lina waited a few hours, to make sure everyone in the room was asleep, then took control again. The light of the stove in the middle of the room was just enough to see by. She slid out of bed and went over to their trunk, opening it as quietly as possible and retrieving her sword from the secret compartment.

‹_Just in case,›_ she thought, as she buckled it on under her school robes. ‹_I do feel sort of naked without it.›_ She glanced around the room, and noticed that Scabbers had poked his nose out of the gap in Ron's bed curtains and was watching her with beady eyes. She lifted a finger to her lips and said "Shhh...", then went to the door, giggling to herself.

It only took moments to get down the stairs, across the common room, and out the portrait door. Ignoring the portrait's snoring, she headed off down the corridor to the main stairwell.

‹'_Out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death,' eh? That's an invitation if I ever heard one.›_

Lina giggled to herself again, and skipped off down the stairs.

‹_Someone's hiding __**treasure**__ here.›_

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Lina is loose in Hogwarts.

_Himitsu desu_: Harry picked up a few random Japanese words and phrases during his time at the students' house (and hence Lina knows them too). One character in Slayers has a sort of catch-phrase, "Sore wa... himitsu desu", which is translated as "That... is a secret". It's highly frustrating to the other characters, and hence is the sort of thing that sticks in the mind.

Elemental magic: Although Lina is technically a Black Mage (in the Final Fantasy sense of the term) she uses Shamanistic (Elemental) magic far more in her day-to-day life. Given that she **feels** that she should know more than Harry does, and he usually knows only the incantation and a vague description of a spell's effects, they've both put a lot of time into learning everything they can on the subject, from both magical and Muggle sources. Which is why he's the first person to notice the problem with the Hat...

Loch: I don't care what Rowling calls it; it's a body of water, it's in Scotland, so it's a loch. (There's only one exception to that rule, and Hogwarts is nowhere near it.) The kids, of course, don't know any better, and will call it a lake when talking about it.

Neville and Hermione: To my mind, since at this point Neville has had a different experience with his Gran over the last few months, and hasn't had months of being picked on and discouraged by his peers, it would only take a small amount of encouragement to bring out the real Neville, that we only get to see much later on in canon. Similarly, I've always felt that the more irritating parts of Hermione's personality at the start of the series was mostly a defence mechanism; a bit of acceptance at the start (even if Ron is being his usual thoughtless eleven-year-old self) should curb the worst of it.

'Shocking bad hat': kudos if you can name the source.


	6. FOUND OUT! Harry and Lina's first week!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Full disclosure on Sorting Hat issues: I hadn't read Three to Backstep chapter 49 before writing chapter 5; I originally started writing about the houses' elemental aspects, but realised that Slytherin didn't match properly, and figured it was probably down to the Hat. However, I have read the 'Sorting Hat tampered with' concept before, so it's not my own idea. (Three to Backstep is definitely worth a read, by the way. As long as you ignore the nonsense about how UK Muggle currency works...)

The favourites, follows and reviews continue to pile in. Thanks everyone!

Some wording lifted directly from Rowling's work, because Snape.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathic hats.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**FOUND OUT! Harry and Lina's first week!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

For a moment Lina thought she'd have to take flight to get across to the third floor corridor entrance, but as she approached the landing the stairs cooperated and swung into the position she needed. Moving much more cautiously now, she crept down the corridor to the forbidden door.

‹_All right. There could be trap or alarm spells on this thing. Not much I can do about alarms, but I doubt that any trap would be even slightly lethal.›_ Carefully, she flicked a finger against the door handle, then waited for a minute or so. When nothing happened, she tried opening the door. ‹_Locked, of course.›_ There was no sign of a keyhole, so either the door was bolted from the other side (unlikely), or the lock was magical. Either way... "_Unlock_."

There was no sound in response, but the door did relax inwards slightly, allowing a sliver of light to shine out. ‹_Magical lock, then.›_ Carefully opening the door a crack, Lina put her ear to the gap and listened. ‹_Sounds like breathing. Something huge in there...›_ She eased the door open a little more, just far enough to peek inside. ‹_Ah.›_ Carefully, Lina pulled the door closed again, and intoned, "_Lock_."

‹_Giant three-headed dog. That would explain the whole 'painful death' part, anyway.›_

This posed a bit of a problem. Lina was confident she could deal with the creature if pressed, but most methods she could think of would make it immediately obvious something had happened... in the form of a giant three-headed smoking corpse. Other means... ‹_I don't think Laphas Seed would work on something that big. Anything else would depend on whether it's actually one animal with three heads, or three animals with one body. I'd rather not experiment...›_ She shrugged. ‹_I'm not going to solve this in one night. Might as well go back to bed.›_ Giving the door a baleful glare, she turned and headed back down the corridor.

Just before Lina reached the stairwell, she caught a shifting in the dim light, and darted into the shadow of the archway at the corridor end. She waited in silence for a moment, then began to hear muttering from the floor above.

"Just because it's the first night doesn't mean the little sneaks won't be out, my sweet." There was a pause, then, "Oh they **would** regret it if we found them. Nasty little sneaks..." The voice tailed off into inaudible muttering, but Lina could now make out footsteps coming down the stairs. They halted a handful of steps short of the landing, then the voice whispered, "What's that my sweet? Find them, find them!"

Lina raised her hand, ready to cast, and held her breath as a near-silent padding came down the last few steps, and the scrawniest cat imaginable poked its head around the archway. The cat spotted Lina, put its ears back, and hissed loudly. Lina jumped, losing concentration.

"Got you, you little sneak!" shouted the voice triumphantly, and after a some clattering steps a hunched, balding man as scrawny as the cat appeared round the corner.

Fortunately those few steps gave Lina enough time to recover from the surprise cat. "_Illusion_!" She projected an image of a running boy into the old man's mind, taking the time to embellish the figure with white-blond hair and green trim on its robes. The man twisted to follow the vision, and started to run down the stairs.

Lina had the illusion run just fast enough to increase its lead on the old man, without going so fast as to discourage him. Maintaining concentration on the spell while working her way back up the stairs wasn't easy, but she managed to fade it into some shadows before she lost sight of the man.

The problem was, the stupid cat was following her the entire time, yowling its head off. As soon as the man vanished round the staircase bend, she cast "_Raywing_!" and shot up the stairs, hugging the wall as much as possible. The cat tried gamely, but had to give up the chase after one flight of stairs.

Landing just inside the Gryffindor corridor, Lina dismissed the spell and trotted up to the portrait hole. The lady depicted was asleep, but woke up enough to accept Lina's whisper of "Caput Draconis", and let her into the common room.

Once back in the dormitory, Lina retrieved a small notebook and pencil from Harry's trunk, then slipped back into bed. As they couldn't rely on Mandy to pass messages back and forth any more, they would need to resort to written notes. She scribbled a quick message to Harry, slid the notebook under the pillow, then lay down and relaxed.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

When Harry woke up the next day, he found Lina's note:

_Definitely something interesting here: huge three-headed dog guarding corridor! Need to find some way to get Illusion to work on more than one target. Watch out for grumpy caretaker bloke with moth-eaten cat, may be trouble. Have fun!_

_Big Sis xx_

An internal check revealed that Lina was having a lie-in, so he added a smiley face at the bottom and hid the book again.

Once out of bed, Harry discovered that only one of his dorm-mates was an equally early riser, the dark-skinned kid... ‹_Dean... Thompson? Thomas? That was it.›_ They struck up a conversation as they were getting dressed, mainly covering their impressions of the train ride up, and of their first evening in the castle, including Dean's observing that one of the teachers had an unusual interest in Harry: "Right nasty bastard, according to the Weasley twins. Hates everyone not in his own house, and tries to make their lives a misery. Any idea what he's got against you?"

Harry shrugged. "Not a clue, I'm afraid. Maybe I remind him of someone?"

"Well, whatever it is, you'd better watch your back. The twins say he's not above setting his students on people he doesn't like." He gave a 'what can you do' gesture, then said, "I'm off to breakfast. Coming?"

"You go on ahead, if you want. I'm going to get Neville and Ron up first, and see if Hermione's ready. What about...?" He gestured to the final bed, which had a bare foot sticking out from between the curtains.

"Seamus? Nah, he threatened me with all sorts of weird Irish vengeance if I got him up early. If he's daft enough to sleep through breakfast, let him." Dean started towards the door. "I'll see you down there, then."

"Sure," said Harry, with a wave, then went over to Neville's bed. "Hey bro, time to get up."

Sheets rustled, then a tousled head poked from between the curtains. "Wha? Oh, hi Harry." The rest of Neville emerged, and started getting dressed. Harry continued over to Ron's bed.

"Ron, time to wake up." Nothing happened. "Ron? Ron!" There was a vague "g'way" from behind the curtains. "Ron! The food's almost gone!"

Ron exploded from his bed with a loud "**Wait!**", and started towards the door at a run. He pulled it open just as a knock sounded from the other side, then squeaked and recoiled in embarrassment as he came face-to-face with Hermione. "What are **you** doing here?"

"I'm **terribly** sorry," said Hermione, not sounding in the least apologetic. "I was just wondering if you were ready to come down; breakfast is about to start."

"But..." Ron turned to Harry and Neville, who were grinning at him. "You're an evil git, Harry Potter."

"Got you up, didn't it?" smirked Harry.

"Yeah, well..." He turned back to Hermione. "Anyway, you can't just come walking in here! We could have been—" He paused, then whispered, "naked," then went back to his normal voice, "—or something. And how did you get up here anyway? Don't the stairs do something?"

"**I** just knocked. **You're** the one who threw the door wide open," said Hermione, primly. "And whoever charmed the stairs must have known that girls would **never** have any nefarious purpose in the boys' dormitory."

Ron was about to retort, when a loud "Fuggoffdalorrayeh" sounded from Seamus' bed.

"I'll wait for you downstairs," whispered Hermione. "Nice pyjamas, by the way."

Ron's face erupted into crimson as Hermione closed the door.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

[Letter delivered to Inverse House, morning of 01/09/1991]

Dear Mandy,

Just a quick note to let you know we arrived safely. I know we should have written last night, but it was a **really** long day, and I pretty much collapsed into bed straight after dinner. _Poor thing was __**so**__ tired. I on the other hand got to explore some of the castle! Someone, probably Fumblebore, is hiding __**treasure**__ here, guarded by a giant three-headed dog. It __**will**__ be mine!_ As you can tell, Lina's a bit excited by the prospect.

The train ride up was great. I met my god-brother Neville, he's really nice. We also met a really smart girl called Hermione Granger, and a boy called Ron Weasley, plus a rather stuck-up git called Draco Malfoy. I think I've made friends with the first three, but I doubt Draco wants to. _He really is a git. Speaking of, one of the teachers was glaring at Harry a lot over dinner. Snape, I think he's called. Can you find out what you can about him please?_

Mumblesnore turns out to be really batty _either he's going a bit senile, or it's an act to get people to underestimate him_. Keep digging!

Anyway, it's nearly time for my first class, and we need to get this off to you. I'll write more soon.

Love,

Harry _and Lina_

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

[Letter delivered to Inverse House, early evening of 06/09/1991]

Dear Mandy,

That's the first week of school over! Sorry we haven't written since the start of the week: settling in has been a bit difficult. _Well, it has been for Harry — he's had a lot more to cope with._ We're finally getting the hang of things, although getting around the castle is really hard sometimes — stupid things like corridors that vanish on Tuesdays and doors that have to be stroked the right way before they open. It's like it was designed to be a play-park, instead of a school. _And the bloody stairs move all the time. Three times I've nearly got caught by that git Filch because of them!_ Lina has taken to exploring the castle every night. _Mostly the library, the last few nights._ Filch is the janitor; he's easy to fool but he's got this _evil, scrawny, moth-eaten_ cat that keeps finding Lina no matter how well she hides.

I've got a nakama! (Michael — the student who was translating Lina's story, remember? — he said that means 'group of really good friends', or 'adventuring party', or something like that. Whatever; it fits.) I already told you how I met Neville (my godbrother!), Hermione, and Ron on the train, and we've hit it off really well. We spend most of our free time together.

Neville's _really sweet_ cool; he can be a bit shy and unconfident _is that even a word?_ but I don't let him put himself down like that. Or anyone else, for that matter...

[flashback]

Unsurprisingly, Neville dove into their Herbology lessons with gusto, quickly proving his natural aptitude for the subject. Not so Charms, where he was completely failing to produce the slightest glimmer of light from his wand.

"I don't understand it," said Harry, who was partnering him for the practical session. "It should work."

"I'm not surprised," said Ron from beside him. "It's dead hard; I can't manage it either."

"That's because of your sloppy wand movements and dreadful pronunciation," said Hermione from beyond Ron. "Neville isn't doing anything wrong."

"Maybe my relatives were right," sighed Neville. Harry looked at him sympathetically, but from behind him, one of the Ravenclaw boys tittered, and said, "I'd heard rumours you were a squib Longbottom, but I didn't expect them to be true." Neville deflated with another sigh.

"Ignore him," said Harry, sending a glare at the boy. "Look, Hermione's right, you're saying the spell perfectly, so the problem must be somewhere else. Maybe you just need to... I don't know, push harder?"

"Easy for you to say," muttered Neville, then tried again: "_Lumos!_" This time, there was the faintest gleam from his wand tip.

"Try again," urged Harry.

"_Lumos!_" Neville's wand lit up properly; not as bright as Harry or Hermione's, but easily enough to see by at night. It stayed lit for a few moments, then faded out as Neville slumped in his chair. Professor Flitwick started to rush over to him, then slowed as Neville pulled himself up, shaking his head groggily. "That was **hard**," he said, gasping slightly.

"Are you all right, Mister Longbottom?" asked the professor, arriving at his side.

"I— I think so," said Neville. "I feel really... drained, though."

"Squib," coughed the Ravenclaw boy. Harry glared at him again, as did the other students, of both houses, sitting near him.

"That will be a point from Ravenclaw, Mister Boot," said Professor Flitwick quietly. "And we'll be having a discussion about it after dinner tonight." The boy gave his head of house a look of betrayal.

"Now, Mister Longbottom," said the professor, "do you think a visit to the Hospital Wing is in order?"

"No, Professor," said Neville, rallying somewhat. "I'm feeling a bit better already."

"Perhaps you should take it easy for the remainder of the class," suggested Flitwick. Neville nodded.

The rest of the lesson went without any major mishaps. Ron finally got the stress on the first syllable correct, to his delight. Harry and Hermione netted five points for Gryffindor between them, for their speed in mastering the spell, and for helping their classmates. As they were filing out, Flitwick asked Neville to stay behind for a moment; the others promised to wait for him.

Once outside, Harry spotted Boot lagging behind, having been given the cold shoulder by his house-mates. "Wait here," he said to Ron and Hermione. "I'll be back as quick as I can." He trotted off down the corridor after Boot.

"Wait up!" he said as he caught up with the Ravenclaw.

Boot turned and sneered at him. "Going to give me a bollocking for insulting your little squib girlfriend?"

Harry sighed, and gestured to a window alcove nearby. "Come over here, Boot. Perry, was it?"

"Terry," said the boy, truculently, following Harry into the alcove.

"Terry, right, sorry," nodded Harry. "I was just wanting to point out to you that Neville is my friend, and that I don't appreciate you putting him down. It sounds like you're familiar with his family, yes?" Terry nodded. "So you'll know all about his parents, how they're heroes, and so on? I'm sure you can imagine that having that happen to your parents would make you rather... unsure of yourself, yes?" Terry nodded again, somewhat reticently as he didn't know where Harry was going with this. "So I'd really rather you didn't make it worse, alright?" Terry sneered, and started to speak, but Harry held up his hand and over-rode him. "Now, I **was** going to let Professor Flitwick handle this, but apparently you need a little extra... encouragement. So..." He made a show of twirling his wand, then: "_Mono Volt_."

»SNAP«

A bright electric discharge coursed briefly over Boot, and he started to fall. Harry caught him, propped him in the alcove corner, and patted him on the head. "The paralysis will wear off in... twenty minutes or so? You'll be fine after that, but you'll need to hurry if you want to get any lunch." Harry started back towards the others, then paused and turned to Terry. "That was just a little something to remind you. Next time... I may not be so nice." He grinned brightly, then left.

[/flashback]

So it turns out that Neville's wand used to belong to his dad. I understand why he's wanting to use it, but it really isn't doing him any favours. Apparently Professor McGonagall is going to arrange something to get him a better one.

I really shouldn't have waved at Terry when we went past him though. Hermione immediately figured out that I'd done something _Go Harry! Go Harry!_, and it took a bit of convincing to get her to calm down. She can be a bit pushy at times _and a lot pushy the rest of the time_, but **even Lina** has to admit that her heart's in the right place _seriously, she's Amelia reincarnated_, and I think she's already getting over the need to prove herself all the time _thank goodness_. She's also **incredibly** smart, and really good at research...

[flashback]

Over breakfast on the first morning, Hermione raised the topic of the Sorting Hat's odd criteria for Slytherin again. "But, you see, Slytherin himself insisted that only Purebloods deserved to learn magic, and the Hat definitely has a tendency to sort Purebloods into that house. And purity — well, **purification**, anyway — is a water trait. So maybe it isn't being so badly affected."

"Maybe," conceded Harry, "but that doesn't explain why it can't talk about it. I'd still like to know what happened."

"How can you find out?" asked Neville. "It could have been **years** ago."

Hermione gave a little gasp, which the others were already associating with her having a sudden epiphany. "I think I can find out **when** it happened," she said enthusiastically. "According to Hogwarts: A History there's a book in the library here that has the lyrics of every song it's sung since it was created. We can check the songs to see when it changed its criteria!"

Ron started to respond, choked slightly on a mouthful of sausage, swallowed, and tried again. "That's an awful lot of songs..."

[/flashback]

...so of course we thought it'd be weeks before she found anything, but then...

[flashback]

Hermione reported back the next morning. "Over the course of the fourteen-twenties," she announced, "the Hat's songs changed from the original theme of 'purity, subtlety, adaptability' to 'purity, cunning, ambition'. The then-Headmaster's lover was a would-be Dark Lady; he was trying to create a recruiting ground for her."

The boys looked suitably impressed. Ron choked down a mouthful of bacon, then said, "How did you do it in one night? There must be **hundreds** of songs!"

"Just short of a thousand," said Hermione with a smug smile. "But of course I only had to read ten, and three of those were working out how many years it took to change completely." At the boys' blank stares she added, "They **were** in date order. I used a binary search pattern." She frowned at the memory. "The **hard** part was reading them. Middle English is not one of my strengths, and it's very hard to spot changes in the Hat's criteria when the actual words 'sotyle' and 'conning' were used for the Ravenclaw traits back then..."

[/flashback]

...so at some point we'll need to talk to someone _competent, ie. not Rumbleroar_ about having the Hat looked at.

Ron... Ron is _an arse, a lot of the time_ and has dreadful table manners, even compared to Lina _Oi! I'm just enthusiastic; he's downright disgusting_. Half the time it seems like he only empties his mouth of food so that he can stick his foot in it instead; I can't count the number of times he's upset Hermione by dismissing anything non-magical as 'bonkers' or 'stupid'. _At least twenty-seven times in the last five days..._

[flashback]

On the Wednesday, Hermione had dug out her Travel Scrabble set, and set about teaching the others. Ron was more interested in why the letters stuck to the board. "I still don't get it," he complained.

"Oh honestly Ron, it's not difficult to understand. The tiles are made of a special magnetic material, and so's the board, so they stick together."

"Like lodestone?" asked Neville.

"Exactly," said Hermione, beaming at him. "Of course the material is rather different, but it's exactly the same effect."

"But why not just use sticking charms?" said Ron.

"Because this isn't a magical game, Ron," said Harry patiently, before Hermione could explode at him.

"And why do you need them to stick anyway?" continued Ron.

"Because it's a travel set," said Hermione, "so you might want to play it while you're in a car or something, and you don't want the tiles to slide off the board. You can get chess sets that work the same way," she added, hoping to appeal to familiarity.

"But surely the chess pieces would just hang on if the board got bumped?"

"**Non-magical** chess, Ron," said Hermione pointedly. "The pieces don't move by themselves." Her face assumed an expression of disgust, remembering her first try at Ron's chessboard. "Nor do they swear at you and make rude hand-gestures when you make a mistake."

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Ron, actually showing repentance. "I reckon Fred and George got at them." Hermione gave him a nod, accepting his apology, but Ron couldn't leave it at that. "Still, sounds mental, not having moving pieces. Muggles are weird."

Harry caught Hermione's eye before she had a chance to respond, and mouthed "Not worth it". She subsided with a sigh.

Meanwhile Neville had distracted Ron by pointing out that it was, in fact, **still** his turn. Ron examined the little magnetic strip with his seven tiles on it. "So I have to make my word go through one of the ones already on the board, right?" The others nodded. "And if I put letters on the coloured squares, I get a higher score?"

"That's right, Ron," said Hermione.

"All right then..." Ron carefully detached three letters from his strip, and added them above the 'y' in Harry's 'clay'. "So that's... three, one, eight — but I get two times that for the coloured square — and four. Twenty-four, right?"

"Is 'poxy' a real word, though?" asked Neville.

"'Course it is," said Ron. "I use it all the time, don't I?"

"Not that that's necessarily proof," said Hermione, "but yes, it's a real word. And quite a good score too, Ron. Don't forget to write it down."

"Don't see why we can't just use quills," said Ron.

"Because pencils and paper are immensely easier to use than quills and parchment," said Hermione, acidly. "Plus, it's a 'Muggle' game, so you should use the proper 'Muggle' tools."

"Mental," said Ron.

"AAAAARGH!"

[/flashback]

...so I'm really hoping he'll get his mouth under control soon. _He can do it. There are brains and subtlety hidden under that ginger thatch. He wasn't kidding when he said he was quite good at chess; he's beaten everyone he's played so far, including a seventh-year who everyone else thought was unbeatable. His strategy there was really devious; Hermione of course twitted him about being a closet Slytherin again._ I think he enjoyed Scrabble too. Once he got the hang of it, his feel for tactics really came into play; he beat the pants off me and Neville in that game, and he'd have got Hermione too if she hadn't pulled off 'zeppelins' right across the top, for **149** points. _He was really annoyed at that. I'm pretty sure he wants a rematch; if he'd won easily he wouldn't have been interested in playing again._

The other kids in Gryffindor are okay, but we don't hang about with them as much — Lavender and Parvati are a bit too girly, and Dean and Seamus are a bit too laddish (though Dean's more than just that; we have a quiet conversation most mornings while the others are still asleep). The four of them have formed their own group. Because of the way the houses work _or don't_ it's hard to get to know anyone in the others, but I'm going to make the effort. _One of the Hufflepuff girls is from the Bones family — can you find out if she's related to the DMLE head? She could be a handy contact._

Muon has taken to spending most nights in our dorm. It's probably not allowed, but it really doesn't seem fair that other people are allowed to have their toads and cats living with them. Or rats, for that matter. At least Ron has finally got the message that Muon won't eat Scabbers, even if Scabbers himself still hasn't. _Scabbers creeps me out. Every time I sneak out I see his beady little eyes following me, and I'm __**sure**__ I've caught him actually ogling me when I'm changing my undies._ I'm not sure where Muon spends the rest of the time, probably the Owlery, but all my dorm-mates are happy for her to visit — Dean even drew a picture of her _which she was insufferably smug about for a couple of days_. Dean is a **really** good artist.

I also told you about meeting 'Malfoy Draco Malfoy' _snobby git_ on the train. Apparently I insulted him by making my own friends and not falling down at his feet. He's being a real pain; every time we cross paths he has something nasty to say about me, or the people with me. However, I may have put a stop to that this morning...

[flashback]

Harry and the others were sitting having breakfast when Draco strutted up, followed by his goons. "I still don't understand how you can sit there, Potter. A mudblood, a blood-traitor with table manners as bad as a mudblood, and a near-squib with the personality of wet string..."

"Not that you're in a position to criticise anyone for the personalities they associate with," snarked Neville. Ron nodded at Draco's bookends, just in case they'd missed the point.

"They're my friends, and I enjoy the conversation here," said Harry, shrugging. "The four of us have such different backgrounds, we can always find something new and interesting to talk about. What about you?"

"Politics, schoolwork..." Draco glared for a moment, trying to think of anything else. "I don't need to explain myself to you!"

"As I thought... Look Draco, you seem to be trying to set yourself up as my Rival, right?" Draco appeared to be lost for words again. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind having a Rival, and you have some of the qualities of a good one." Draco preened momentarily, then recovered his poise and resumed glaring. "But there's one crucial thing missing... I haven't heard you laugh yet."

"Yes you have," replied Draco.

"I've heard you go 'Ha!' on a couple of occasions; that's not good enough." Harry took on his Storyteller pose, which had the others, who were used to seeing it by now, leaning in so they didn't miss any of the entertainment. "Imagine for a moment. You've pulled off some grand scheme, or thwarted one of my own. My embarrassment is total, your victory is complete, and everyone around knows it. Really **feel** what that would be like. Now, how do you react?"

Caught in the moment, Draco put on his most impressive sneer and laughed. "Ha!"

"No no no," said Harry, shaking his head. "That won't do. I'm sorry Draco, but you can't be my Rival until you learn to laugh properly."

[/flashback]

_...so basically Harry's going to keep rebuffing him until he comes up with the 'Crazed Noble**woman**' laugh of his own accord. I'm so __**proud**__ of him!_ Just as long as he doesn't do it too often, otherwise the entire student body may decide to kill me for causing it.

Classes have been going pretty well, in all. Astronomy was fun, History was incredibly boring _we spent most of the time trying to talk to each other; the class will be infinitely better if we can at least have a conversation_, and Ron quickly discovered that Binns (the professor, who's a ghost_!_) doesn't care if he sleeps through it. Everything we need to know is in the book, anyway.

Charms is definitely the easiest practical subject _not for Ron though_, and the professor is really entertaining; I was right that it's going to be the most useful area to study. Herbology is pretty easy too; Neville really shines there, and has already caught the eye of Professor Sprout, as you can see. Transfiguration is **hard**: as we found out over the summer, the magic is totally alien to anything we already know, and the temptation to force the spells is really strong. But that would just lead to an exploding wand, and a lot of questions... Hermione does really well there, and in Charms too.

Defence is a bit of a disappointment; only the later years learn anything about how to fight, we're just getting lots of tips on how to avoid nasty creatures. Quirrell (the teacher) is really weird: incredibly jumpy, stutters a lot, _and smells of garlic_ and I get this weird pain in my scar whenever he faces directly **away** from me. Lina thinks there's something under his turban that's doing it _there totally is, and it only affects Harry: I can't feel it when he does, and the one time we came across him while I was in control, __**neither**__ of us felt anything. We found him snooping about the forbidden corridor, by the way; I think he may be after the treasure too. He's got Surprise Evil Dude written all over him._

And then there's Potions, with Professor Snape _who has Blatantly Obvious Red Herring Evil Dude written all over him_...

[flashback]

Snape had lost points with Harry when he called him their 'new celebrity' while taking attendance, but gained a lot of them back with a really impressive introductory speech. Then he turned on Harry for no apparent reason.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, but Harry had to think for a moment. "Some sort of fast-acting knockout potion, going by the ingredients. I haven't come across that exact combination yet."

Snape indicated marginal approval by allowing his sneer to decrease microscopically. He ignored Hermione's hand, and went on, "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"I'd check the supply cabinet first, Professor," said Harry, then added, "You've probably got at least one in your pocket as well, in case of emergencies."

Snape's sneer decreased again. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Neville's hand joined Hermione's, but Snape was still looking directly at Harry, so he answered, "None sir, they're both common names for plants in the Aconitum genus."

"One point from Gryffindor for using Muggle terms, Potter," sneered Snape, then went on to elaborate on Harry's answers.

The remainder of the lesson continued in that vein. Harry couldn't say that Snape truly **favoured** Slytherin, as the only student he actually complimented was Draco, but he **did** reserve his more cutting criticisms for the Gryffindors, even if they didn't really deserve it. His looming really rattled Neville, but fortunately Harry was his partner for the practical part of the lesson, and was able to keep him calm enough to turn in a reasonable attempt at a boil cure.

The potions lesson ended with Snape glaring at Harry as they filed out, as if he was just **aching** for another chance to belittle him.

[/flashback]

_...definitely has it in for Harry, but don't worry, I've got a plan for fixing him up._ She won't tell me about it, Mandy. Make her tell me! _Don't whine Harry. Anyway, I'm starting it tonight, so you'll get to see, if you stay awake. I'll even give you a clue: according to the school rolls in the library, Snape was in the same year as your parents._ Oh great. Given how much I apparently look like my dad, Snape probably hates me because of something to do with him. Hopefully you've found out something about him, Mandy? _Maybe Snape fell in love with your dad, but he spurned Snape's advances?_ Oh **thanks** Lina, now I'll have that image stuck in my head for the rest of the year...

Anyway, that covers everything so far, pretty much. How are things at your end? Did you get the redecorating finished? Have you found out anything more about **SB**?

Missing you,

Harry _and Lina_

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Albus (etc.) Dumbledore looked around the staff room, bringing the meeting to order. "So, our first week of a new year. How has it gone for everyone?"

Most of the staff answered with positive reports — a little homesickness in the first years, some small disciplinary issues, but nothing serious. Argus Filch, on the other hand...

"I haven't caught the little sneak yet, but I will. And when I do, I'll see him punished, Professor Snape! Count on it!"

Snape sneered at the squib janitor. "You have no proof that it's even a member of my house, Filch. And as for catching this supposed 'sneak'... how many times has he got away from you now?"

Filch mumbled something about "most nights so far". Dumbledore frowned at Snape's smirk. "I'm sure that Argus will find the culprit soon. Now, I would like everyone's initial impressions of Harry Potter. Minerva?"

"He seems like a well-adjusted, happy boy," said the Deputy Head. "He's struggling a bit in Transfiguration class, but no worse than some others. He certainly has the theory down so far. And he's making friends with others in his year."

"No sign of any trauma? No hints of who this mysterious guardian might be?" asked Dumbledore.

"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with him. And no, he hasn't mentioned his home life at all; certainly not where I've heard it?" She glanced round the other teachers, receiving head-shakes in response.

"He's a joy to teach in Charms," commented Flitwick. "Either he has an intuitive grasp of the subject, or he's had considerable practice. He and Miss Granger have given their classmates quite some help with their wand-work."

Snape sneered and muttered, "Show-offs," but when Dumbledore frowned at him again he added, "He's not quite as disastrously incompetent as I had feared. However, he definitely has his father's arrogance."

"Really?" said Flitwick. "He reminds me far more of his mother. I'm surprised you didn't notice..." Snape sneered again, turning away from the others.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once again, Lina hid herself in the shadows of the main stairwell, tucked in the corner underneath the third-floor west landing. ‹_All right Harry, if he follows the same pattern as the last two nights, Snape should be coming along the second-floor corridor any moment.›_

Footsteps sounded from down the corridor. ‹_That's him.›_ This had to be done with care. Still hugging the shadows, Lina floated downwards until she could just see Snape in the corridor. "_Illusion!_" She created an image of herself off to one side of the second-floor landing. With its head bowed as if deep in thought, Lina walked her projection slowly across the end of the corridor, heading to where the stairs to the third floor would attach. Snape shouted "Who's there!" and began to stalk forward, but the image continued walking as if oblivious. As soon as it passed out of his sight, Lina dropped the illusion and shot up to hug the deepest shadows under the third-floor landing again.

Snape strode out of the corridor and turned, but the stairs to the third floor were only now swinging across. He peered over the edge, then examined the shadows around the archway, but found nothing. Shaking his head and muttering, he headed down the stairs.

Lina could feel Harry's irritation, so once Snape was out of sight, she flew up into the fourth-floor corridor and into an empty classroom.

"All right Harry, what's up?"

Harry took over. "Was that it? I was expecting... I don't know what, actually, but not **that**!" He let Lina take control again.

"Look, it would have been easy to fireball his greasy arse into oblivion, or at least pummel him into next week, but what good would it do? He wouldn't let up on you just because some anonymous person beat him up, and if we let him know why it was happening, he'd chuck you out of the school." She felt Harry wanting to interject, but kept on, "Yes, I **know** it would make you feel better — c'mon, it's **me** talking, I'm **really** tempted to just blast him — but surely him stopping picking on you would feel better still?" She let Harry take over.

"Yeah, that's true," said Harry, "but how is this going to help?"

"You saw what Mandy sent us tonight. Snape and your mother lived right round the corner from each other, **before** they went to Hogwarts. There's a good chance they knew each other, especially considering I've found a couple of records in the library of projects they worked on together in their third and fifth years here. And judging by your aunt's reaction, I look like your mother. If we can get Snape thinking of her, maybe even worrying that she's coming back to say something to him...?"

"All right," said Harry, "that's pretty smart. But if he doesn't let up, can we **please** blow him up? Just a **little**?"

"Sure, if he really doesn't get the message," laughed Lina, taking over again. "You get some sleep now; I'm going to have a browse in the library again."

-=o=-

In the Gryffindor third-year boys' dorm, a pair of red-heads stared in disbelief at a parchment map of the castle, then turned to each other.

"I think we"  
>"need to have"<br>"a word with"  
>"Mister Potter..."<p>

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... less than a week in the castle, and Harry's secret sister has already been discovered...

Crazed Noblewoman Laugh: OHHH HOHOHOhohoho! See: Gracia Ul Naga Saillune (Slayers), Kuno Kodachi (Ranma 1/2), Kiryuu Nanami (Revolutionary Girl Utena), and many, many more. (Search for "Naga's Laughs" on YouTube if your ears are up to it.)

'Shocking bad hat': I don't think Victorian slang is old enough to count as 'Old England' (sorry Riniko22). I actually got it from Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, which everyone should read.

In response to Kairan1979: I don't think this counts as a crossover, any more than HP fanfics that constantly reference Monty Python or Doctor Who (you know the kind) are crossovers. No Slayers characters or settings appear in this fic. 'Lina' only exists because Harry is mentally disturbed, and has only become a 'real' person because he's highly magical. So I feel that marking it as a crossover would only disappoint any Slayers fans who came to the story, and also possibly drive away some Potter fans unfamiliar with the anime. However, if you (or anyone else) have a convincing counter-argument, I'll take it into consideration.


	7. GONE! Secrecy broken, an opportunity…

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Apparently FFN no longer lets you put two exclamation marks in a row. I am getting really annoyed with their fascistic text screening.

So far the butterfly effects from Harry leaving home have been fairly minor — mainly Augusta Longbottom getting Neville to the station early — but they're starting to get more obvious...

Previous chapters required a lot of thought and rewrites, but this one just rolled out in a oner. The next one probably won't be as quick.

Loads more follows, favourites and reviews! Thanks everyone!

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV...  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**GONE! Secrecy broken, an opportunity missed!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

"Mistress Lina! Wake up, Mistress Lina!"

Lina mumbled to herself, then sat up. "Mandy? Is something wrong?" She checked the curtains to make sure they were completely closed.

"No, Mistress," whispered Mandy, "but I've found out a couple of things that shouldn't be written down just yet. Is Master Harry awake?"

"Um... yes. Better if he takes over..."

"Hi Mandy," said Harry, giving the house elf a hug. "What's up?"

"I got an early morning owl from Account Manager Bonehewer's contact in the Ministry Records Office. He's managed to put together all the paperwork to do with your godfather's arrest and imprisonment. There is definitely no record of any formal questioning or trial, and no time between his arrest and his transfer to Azkaban for much questioning either."

Harry's face darkened. "Who sent him there?"

"Bartemius Crouch, Master. Head of the DMLE at the time."

"All right," said Harry. "There is definitely something fishy going on here. The entire story about his arrest sounds wrong, and now this... what should we do, Mandy?"

"I think this might be a good opportunity for Madam Umbridge to show her loyalty to Mistress Lina," said Mandy with a smirk. "Such a stickler for pure-blood rights won't be happy about a member of a Noble and Most Ancient House being imprisoned without trial."

"But she'll need to tell her in person... All right. Wait here for a moment please, Mandy."

Harry hopped out of his bed, to see that Muon had decided to join them during the night. "Hey girl," he said quietly, going over to her perch and giving her head a scratch. "How's things?" Muon rubbed against his hand affectionately. "We decided to have an explore around the lake later today, do you want to come?" Muon bobbed her head a couple of times. Harry checked her water and treat bowls. "Looks like you'll be all right for a bit; shall we meet up here after breakfast?" Bob, bob. "All right. I just need to nip out for a little while; don't worry about me." Harry scratched her head again, then went over to Neville's bed. "Bro," he said, quietly, "are you awake?"

"Mrph. Sort of," mumbled Neville, then pulled the curtains open slightly. "Isn't it a bit early?"

"Yeah, sorry," said Harry. "Look, I need you to cover for me. Don't let anyone try to wake me up. Tell Ron and Hermione I'm having a lie in or something. I shouldn't be too long, and I promise I'll explain when I get back."

"All right," said Neville, then vanished back into his bed again.

Harry started back to his own bed. "See you later girl," he said, giving Muon a wave, then noticed Scabbers poking his nose out of Ron's curtains. Mimicking Lina's habit, he winked at the rat and put his finger over his lips in a 'ssh' gesture, then climbed through his own curtains.

"All right Mandy, let's go see about getting Sirius a trial."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Dolores Umbridge was not pleased to be knocked up so early on a Saturday morning, but she nevertheless led her Head of House in to a sitting room — ignoring her aide, but at least not complaining when she followed, nor commenting on the very fetching dark blue frock coat and breeches outfit she was sporting. Lina instantly hated the overly-cute kitten-themed decor, especially since there didn't seem to be any living examples in the place.

"What can I do for you, my lady?" said Dolores. "Would you care for something to eat? Some tea perhaps?"

"No thank you, Dolores," said Lina, in her best 'airs and graces for self-important gits' voice. "I am somewhat pressed for time today." She leaned forward in her chair slightly. "I understand that you are a... **passionate** supporter of the rights of pure-blooded wizards and witches?"

"Of course," said Dolores, simpering slightly. "It is only right that the best should have the best, after all."

"So, I assume that if a pure-blooded wizard — the Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient house, no less — were to be imprisoned in Azkaban without trial or even proper questioning, you would agree that their rights had been most horribly violated?"

Dolores looked shocked. "That would be utterly dreadful," she gasped. "Surely such a thing has not happened?"

"Unfortunately, it has," said Lina, gesturing to Mandy, who came forward and presented a very slim bundle of parchment to Dolores.

"These are official Ministry documents!" started Dolores. "How—"

"Those are **copies** of official Ministry documents, Dolores," said Lina sternly. "As for 'how'... I have my sources. However..." and she gestured to the bundle.

Dolores glanced over them. "Sirius Black? But he—"

"—was the heir apparent to a **Noble and Most Ancient** house, and yet...?" Lina gave Dolores a stern glare.

"...indeed," said Dolores, reading further. "It would appear that there was a definite miscarriage of justice." She glanced up at Lina, a sly look on her face. "I'm not sure that it would be in the Ministry's best interests to draw attention to such a thing..."

Lina's face hardened further. "I'm sure that if the Minister were to be seen correcting the terrible mistake of the **previous administration**, any possible attention would be most favourable." She gave Dolores a knowing look. "And if the investigation caused a high position in the Ministry to become vacant, I'm sure a politically astute person such as yourself would be able to make the most of it."

Dolores looked closer at the document, and her eyes lit up when she spotted the names of those involved. "The current Minister was present at the arrest, but not in a position to affect the outcome. How regrettable, that only now does he feel secure enough to take action against his former superiors' conspiracy..."

"Regrettable indeed," said Lina. "I will leave this matter in your capable hands, Dolores. I look forward to reading all about Lord Black's trial in the very near future." She smiled, pushed her magic into her voice, and added, "_See to it that no further 'miscarriages of justice' occur._"

Dolores gulped and said, "Of course, my lady."

Lina smiled again. "I must be off now, Dolores. Thank you for your time."

"No, thank you," simpered Dolores, and ushered Lina and Mandy back out of her house, swapping sneers with the house elf on the way.

"Blech!" said Lina as they got to the road. "Do I have time for a bath? Dealing with that simpering toad makes my skin itch."

"You did very well, Mistress Lina," said Mandy with a grin. "But I believe Master Harry's friends will be wondering where he's got to."

"I suppose so," said Lina.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Back in control and in his bed, Harry congratulated Lina on a 'wicked' performance, gave Mandy a goodbye hug, then got up and dressed. Other than Muon and Scabbers, the dorm was empty, so after giving his owl a bit of attention, he headed out in the hope of catching the end of breakfast.

Half way down the main stairs he suddenly found himself bracketed by a matched pair of Weasleys.

"Good morning"  
>"Mister Potter!"<br>"May we have"  
>"a quick word"<br>"with you?"

The twins steered him into the deserted fourth-floor corridor.

"What do you two want?" said Harry, exasperated. "I'm trying to get to breakfast here."

"Oh? We thought"  
>"you may have"<br>"eaten out today."

Harry affected confusion. "What? Seriously, I had a bit of a lie in, and unless I get down to the hall now, I'll need to wait 'til lunch. Do you mind?" He started to leave, but the twins caught his arms again.

"Now now young"  
>"Harry, you can't"<br>"pull the wool"  
>"over our eyes."<br>"I suppose"  
>"you'll be saying"<br>"that the name"  
>"'Lina Inverse'"<br>"means nothing"  
>"to you either?"<p>

Harry broke their grips and turned to glare at them. "Where did you hear that name?"

"We all have"  
>"our little secrets"<br>"Harrikins. You"  
>"tell us yours,"<br>"and we **might**"  
>"consider telling"<br>"you ours."

Harry thought for a moment. "All right. I'm sure you have some awful threat to hold over me if I don't tell; don't bother with it. However, I promised Neville I'd tell him about this eventually. I'm not going to let you clowns in on the secret before my godbrother — or my friends for that matter — so let's go get them, and then we can take a walk somewhere private."

"Lead on,"  
>"Mister Potter."<p>

The twins mirrored each other gesturing to the stairs, then fell in behind Harry as he resumed his journey to the Great Hall.

By the time they got there, the food had been cleared away and most of the students had dispersed. Neville, Hermione, and Ron were sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table, watching the door. When Harry appeared they got up and came over to him.

"You're a bit late," said Ron.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I... well, do you still want to go see the lake?" Hermione and Neville nodded; Ron grunted ambivalently. "All right, let's go."

"We saved you some breakfast," said Neville, holding out a sausage sandwich. Hermione handed Harry one as well, this one bacon.

"Thanks guys," said Harry, trying to ignore the way that Ron's eyes tracked the food.

Ron recovered and turned to his brothers. "What are you pair doing?"

"Ickle Harry"  
>"has something"<br>"to show us all."

The other three looked at Harry, who just gestured to the doors.

Once outside, Harry stopped suddenly. "Drat. I promised Muon I'd get her from the dorm." He looked at the twins. "I don't suppose...?"

"Not a chance,"  
>"Harrikins"<br>"You're not"  
>"getting away"<br>"from us."

Harry sighed.

"Don't worry Harry," said Hermione, pointing to the Gryffindor tower. "She's on her way."

Muon floated down from the dorm window and landed on Harry's shoulder. "Clever girl," he murmured as she rubbed her head against his. "All right, shall we?"

Harry ate his breakfast as they walked down to the lochside, then they went around the shore for a while, occasionally chatting about this and that but mostly just enjoying the view in silence (or trying to ignore Ron's grumbles about the distance, at least). Once they were well out of sight of the castle, and had seen no-one for several minutes, Harry stopped turned to his friends.

"All right. Neville, when we first met I mentioned that I had found someone to look after me, and that I would tell you more about it later?" Neville nodded. "And all three of you know that I... discovered magic by myself, but not the magic you're used to?" The three nodded. Harry stopped, thought for a moment, rubbed his eyes, then went on with a sigh, "It's really difficult to work out the best order to tell this in. I'll get back to that, but first... this morning I got some very important news, and I asked Neville to keep anyone from disturbing me."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, he said you were having a lie-in."

"Yes, well... because of that news, I had to... nip out and arrange something. Mandy — she's the house elf I told you about, Neville." Hermione started to speak, but Harry quickly added, "I'll tell you all about house elves later, Hermione; this is more important." Hermione gave him a 'you'd better' look; Harry went on, "Anyway, she's basically my... assistant? She delivered the news to me this morning, then popped me away to deal with it. Somehow, Fred and George noticed that I had left the castle, and were **very** insistent that I tell them about it."

"I'm sure that there's no point in mentioning that it's against the rules for us to leave Hogwarts without permission," said Hermione, "but I thought that it was impossible to Apparate through the wards? I assume you didn't just **walk** out."

"House elves don't travel the same way," said Harry. "Anyway... how many of you have heard of Sirius Black?"

Hermione had to think for a moment, but the others reacted immediately with various exclamations of disgust. Harry nodded. "Yeah... did you know he's my godfather? And that he was thrown into Azkaban without a trial, or even being questioned properly?"

Hermione and Neville looked shocked, but Ron just shrugged. "Serves him right. Traitorous Death Eater scum."

"Well, that's the thing," said Harry. "There's no evidence, no proper confession, no nothing..."

"Yeah, but everyone **knows** he did it—" started Ron.

"You don't throw someone in jail just because 'everyone knows', Ron," said Hermione, then turned to Harry. "I take it you were away arranging for him to get a trial?"

"Well... that's the other thing I need to tell you all. I mentioned my guardian... it's actually **her** that needed to deal with it."

"So why did you have to go?" said Hermione.

"Because..." Flustered, Harry ran his fingers through his hair and looked around wildly for a moment. Regaining her balance, Muon batted him behind the head with a wing, then flapped over to perch on a nearby rock. "Sorry girl," said Harry, then turned to the others again as Lina sent him wave after wave of comforting support. "All right, story time. I'm not going to go into details but... let's just say that my home life wasn't very nice. I found out about this different magic that I use when I was eight years old, and practised it in secret; that made my life a bit better, but... well, my aunt and uncle still..."

Hermione came over and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's all right Harry, you don't have to tell us." Neville gave him a small supportive smile.

Harry nodded jerkily. "Anyway, one day my aunt was particularly angry, and I was really angry in return, and... something happened. I— I—"

Hermione jumped back in surprise as Lina took over. "So I popped out, and gave her what for." She grinned at the twins. "Hello boys. I know I'm gorgeous and all, but I've never come across anyone quite so **desperate** to meet me as you two."

Fred and George grinned back.

Ron's mouth dropped open.

Hermione stared and said, "Harry?" in a small voice.

Neville stared for a moment as well, then went white and started shaking, tears brimming in his eyes. Lina moved over to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not Lily Potter. Shit, I should have thought of this. You've seen pictures of her?" Neville nodded, not taking his eyes off her. "I know I look like her; it's probably Harry's influence, but I'm **not** Lily. I'm sorry." She pulled Neville into a hug, holding him there as she explained, "Harry was reading a story about a beautiful red-haired sorceress. Of course he though she was absolutely brilliant; who wouldn't? One night, when his aunt and uncle were being particularly awful, he tried one of the spells from the book, without really expecting anything, but it worked, so he started learning them. Then earlier this year, when they were again being particularly awful, something in his magic reacted, and created someone who would look out for him; someone who would love him and take care of him from then on. Me."

She released Neville from the hug, but held him by the shoulders at arm's length and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm Lina Inverse. I'm Harry's big sister, which is why I look like your godmother. I could be your big sister too, if you want."

Neville nodded and allowed Lina to pull him into a hug again. Hermione caught her eye over his shoulder, obviously needing more information. Lina grinned at her. "The goblins say it's neither an animagus transformation nor a metamorphmagus one, but has elements of both. Their magic considers me to be a separate person from Harry — as does whatever the twins used to discover me, apparently. One of the goblins said something about 'magically actualised stress-induced split personality disorder', does that make sense to you?"

Hermione nodded. She was obviously about to explode in a shower of questions, but Lina went on, "Good, because I have no idea. Basically, I'm not Harry, he's not me, we both have our own bodies but only one of us can actually be 'here' at a time. The other one is sometimes asleep, but is usually watching from the back of the mind — like Harry is now."

"Hang on," said Ron. "So you've been watching us when we've been getting changed and stuff?"

"Yes Ron," smirked Lina, "**avidly**." When Ron started to blush pillar-box red, Lina laughed. "Seriously, no. If I was watching you, it would mean Harry was, and trust me, he has **no** desire to ogle you."

"That's all right then," said Ron.

"You're okay with this?" said Hermione, surprised.

"Well, yeah. Look." He turned to Muon. "Is she for real?" Bob, bob. "Is she Harry?" Strangled »prek«, rapid head-shake. "Is she a problem?" Muon looked at Lina, yawned mightily, and turned away. "See? The owl trusts her. Apparently not that fond of her, but if she was a danger, Muon would have been all over her. Are **you** okay with it though?"

"She gave me a perfectly logical explanation," said Hermione faintly. "How about you, Neville?"

There was a loud sniff, then Neville's tear-stained face turned to her. "Hugging my big sister here. Does that answer your question?"

"Remember how I said Harry was watching?" said Lina to Hermione. "He's currently worried that one of his friends isn't going to be able to handle this."

"Oh!" said Hermione. "Harry, no. It's... certainly different, and I have a **lot** of questions, but you're still my friend, **honestly**." She paused. "Is... is he all right now?"

"He's fine, thanks," said Lina with a smile. "Now, Neville... could you let go for a bit?" Blushing, Neville let go of Lina, sniffed again, and wiped his eyes with his robe sleeve. "Thanks. Big Sis is going to show you something fun." She turned to the twins. "Gentlemen. You **are** going to keep this little revelation secret, aren't you?"

The twins looked at each other, then back at Lina, grinning.

Lina smirked back at them. "See that rock over there?" She pointed at a boulder the size of a small car, about forty metres from them. The twins nodded. Lina made a show of loosening her shoulders, cleared her throat, raised her arms, and cast.

"_Wind, crimson flame. Grant the power of thunder to my hand! DIGU VOLT!_" A massive spear of lightning sprang from her hand and struck the rock, blasting chunks off it. Lina grinned at her audience over her shoulder, then turned back to her target. "_Flare Arrow! Freeze Arrow! Fireball! Dug Wave! __**Dam Brass!**_" Flaming missiles shot at the rock, followed by darts of ice. A blast of fire bathed it, it was flung into the air by a massive explosion of the ground underneath it, then finally it shattered into tiny fragments under the intense vibrations of the final spell.

Lina turned back to the twins as rock fragments pelted the ground only metres away. "I mean, we're all friends here, right?"

The twins looked at each other again, then back at Lina, and said in chorus, "Friends? Sure, no problem. Best buddies. Your secret's safe with us!"

Lina gave a tinkling laugh. "You're all right, boys. Now, I've shown you mine; are you going to show us yours?"

One of the twins looked at the other, who nodded. The first pulled out a large roll of parchment from within his robes, and spread it out. Everyone clustered round.

"Ladies"  
>"and gentlemen,"<br>"we are proud"  
>"to present,"<br>"The Marauder's Map!"

Both twins touched the map with their wands, and chorused, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The others made various noises of interest and awe as the formerly blank parchment filled in with a map of the entire castle and its grounds. A multitude of dots, each labelled with a name, moved around the corridors and rooms.

"Look," said one of the twins. "There we are."

They craned their necks to look at a spot on the lochside far out from the castle. The dots revealed that indeed it was Lina Inverse that was standing there, and that the twin that had spoken was George.

"Hang on," said Lina, and let Harry take over. The dot changed its name immediately.

"Cor," said Ron.

Hermione ignored the map and clamped her arms around Harry, burying her nose in his shoulder. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"It's all right," said Harry, patting her back awkwardly.

She gave him a final squeeze, then released him and turned to the twins. "So how does it work? How did you make it? Can you zoom in or search for people? I think I saw Nearly Headless Nick there, what else can it show?"

"Um..." said George. "In order: we don't know, exactly, it's a bit too complicated for us."

"Because we didn't make it," continued Fred, "we found it in Filch's office one day"  
>"in a drawer marked 'Confiscated and Highly Dangerous'"<br>"so obviously we had to have a look."  
>"I'm not sure what you mean by 'zoom',"<br>"but you can't say 'show me so and so' or anything like that."  
>"It shows all the students, visitors, and staff"<br>"— it even shows McGonagall when she's in her animagus form —"  
>"and it shows all the ghosts, even the invisible ones,"<br>"and even Peeves, though he's not a real ghost."

"Hold on," said Hermione, "invisible ghosts?"

The twins shrugged. "Well," said George, "we only know of the one,"  
>"we think he's just shy or something."<br>"Peter Pettigrew, you know..."

"The bloke that was murdered by Sirius Black," said Ron, filling the uncomfortable silence that followed.

"**Apparently** murdered by him," said Harry. "I'm still not convinced. What do you mean, he's an invisible ghost?"

"Um..." said George, "we spotted him in first year"  
>"hanging about in the third year boys' dorm."<br>"Sometimes he'd go to class,"  
>"sometimes he'd just hang around in the dorm."<br>"We wanted to talk to him,"  
>"but we could never see him,"<br>"so we thought he was reliving his school days"  
>"and was too shy to come out."<br>"He spent last year in the fourth year dorm,"  
>"going to their classes sometimes too."<br>"Funny thing though,"  
>"this year he's acting like he's in first year."<br>"Have you seen any ghosts in your dorm?"

Harry suddenly felt Lina's anger spike. He wondered why for a moment, then the penny dropped. Fighting to keep calm, he said, "Twins, you said the map labels animagi with their real name." They nodded. "And Ron, you said that Scabbers used to belong to Percy." Ron nodded, a puzzled look on his face. Harry's anger started to boil over into his aura. "And Percy was in fourth year last year?" The Weasleys all nodded.

Harry's friends stared in confusion and shock as, aura flaring red, he and Lina flipped back and forth for a few moments. Harry finally won out. "Find him," he growled at the others. Neville and Hermione's heads collided painfully as all five pored over the map.

"He's not in the dorm," said Ron immediately. Behind him, Muon started barking excitedly.

"Hang on..." said Neville. "There! He's just outside the main doors!"

Harry looked up, and called, "**_Mandy!_**"

Mandy popped in right beside him. "Yes, Master Harry?"

Harry forced his anger down; no point in taking it out on Mandy. "Pop me to the main entrance, please." Muon lunged over and grabbed onto Harry's shoulder just as they popped out.

They appeared in the corner between the gate tower and the main wall, out of sight of other students. Muon immediately leapt into the air and started scanning the ground.

"We need him alive, Muon!" Harry called after her, then turned to Mandy. "Can you bring whoever has the map over, please? And the others, if you're up to it?" Mandy nodded and popped out again.

Harry started after Muon, but had only got a few steps before Mandy was back with Ron and Neville, then away again. "Any sign?"

"He's down the hill somewhere," said Ron. "There's no decent landmarks though."

Mandy popped back again, with Hermione this time. "That's all I can manage, Master Harry," she said, slightly winded.

"That's all right Mandy," said Harry. "Do you want to go rest, or would you rather help us catch Pettigrew?" Mandy's sudden determined expression was all the answer Harry got; she stepped behind Neville and vanished.

"Apparently the map doesn't show house elves," commented Hermione, looking over Ron's shoulder.

Ron looked up from the map. "If the three of you spread out and start down the hill, I'll be able to work out where he is."

Harry gave him a fierce grin. "Come on then!" He headed to the right, across the main path, nearly colliding with Draco.

"Watch it Potter!" snarked the Slytherin. "You—"

"Not now, Draco!" replied Harry as he ran down the hill.

Once they were a good twenty metres from each other, Ron called out, "That's far enough! Keep going down the path, Neville; Harry, Hermione, you keep pace with him! Merlin, he's moving fast! He's about a quarter of the way to the gate already!"

The three sped up on hearing that, losing their formation a bit. They had drawn quite a crowd by now, but they followed at a more leisurely pace.

By the time they reached the half-way mark, Hermione and Neville were getting quite winded. Suddenly Muon, who was a good thirty metres ahead of Hermione, started a fast dive. The epitome of her name, she caught the running rat completely by surprise, grasping him in her talons then pumping her wings to pull him aloft. She had only managed two metres from the ground when she was forced to drop him, as the rat's body ballooned into that of a plump, balding man. Muon wasn't giving up though; she dove again, talons reaching to slash the man's face.

Pettigrew screamed and flailed his arms, driving Muon back, then drew his wand and yelled, "_Incendio! __**Incendio!**_" The owl twisted in mid-air, narrowly avoiding both spells, but was forced to retreat. Pettigrew turned and ran for the gates.

Panting, Hermione shouted "_Impedimentia!_", but her aim was off. Harry was luckier; with a call of "_Laphas Seed!_" he sent ropes spiralling after Pettigrew. They started to wrap around him, but he transformed back into the rat and ran out of their range, before resuming human form and running again. Harry's follow-up cry of "_Dug Wave!_" made an impressive crater, but Pettigrew ignored the dirt spattering around him from the near miss. He managed a dozen more strides, then was suddenly blown off his feet and skidded across the ground. Mandy appeared from nowhere behind him, hands raised.

Pettigrew squeaked at the sight of the enraged house elf, then yelled, "_Avada Kedavra!_" Harry yelled "**NO!**" as the sickly green light sped towards Mandy, but she popped out just before it hit. Neville and Ron both had to dive out of the way before the spell finally buried itself in the hillside. Hermione glanced over at Harry, and yelled, "**ALIVE**, Harry!" Tears of rage starting in his eyes, Harry bit back the _Blast Ash_ he had almost cast, then had to dodge as Pettigrew fired another Killing Curse, directly at him this time. Hermione cast another Tripping Jinx, but she was really running out of steam; the spell only caused Pettigrew to stumble slightly as he resumed his headlong dash for the gates.

Harry lost precious time as every lethal and high-damage spell he knew ran through his mind, begging to be cast. Finally in desperation he hissed "_Flare Bit!_," pushing as much of his magic into the cast as he could.

The swarm of light balls crashed into Pettigrew just as he made it to the ward line. Pummelled to the ground by the impact, he nevertheless managed to twist in place and vanished with a deafening »CRACK«.

"**FUCK!**" yelled Harry at the uncaring sky.

"Mister Potter!" Harry spun around to see Professor McGonagall coasting down the path on a broomstick. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, alighting a few metres away.

Ignoring her for the moment, Harry looked around at his friends. Muon glided out of cover and landed on his raised wrist, hooting gently. Harry examined her carefully. "You're all right. Thank goodness..." Muon looked away, her head down. Harry shook his head. "You did your best, girl. Look," he added, wiping a smear of blood off her talons. "You got him a good one. I'm just glad you're all right." She launched herself into the air, and came down on his shoulder, rubbing her head against his.

His human friends looked badly worn out but were in one piece. He gave them all a wan smile, then called for Mandy. The house elf popped in, looking distraught. "I'm sorry Master Harry. I wasn't fast enough to catch him."

"It's all right Mandy," said Harry. "I'd rather lose him than you." She gave him a wan smile then moved to stand in her usual 'aide' position beside him.

"Mister Potter," said McGonagall, "I'm waiting for an explanation?"

"I'm sorry Professor," said Harry wearily. "I was hoping to introduce you to Peter Pettigrew, but he had to leave in a hurry."

"Peter Pettigrew?" she parroted in disbelief. "I suppose— it did look somewhat like him, but it can't have been. He died ten years ago."

"Apparently not Professor," said Neville, finally catching his breath.

"Yeah, Harry found out that Sirius Black was thrown in Azkaban without a trial," chimed in Ron. "That git Pettigrew was hiding out as my rat Scabbers — I can't believe I actually slept with him in my bed! Anyway, as soon as he heard Harry mention that Black is getting a trial, he bolted."

"I did see him transform into something small at one point," said McGonagall pensively. "But how—"

She was interrupted by the sound of Hermione emptying her stomach into the bushes. Harry started over to her, but she straightened up and said, "I'm all right." She coughed a couple of times, then went on, "I haven't run that far in a while. Also, Mister Pettigrew left us a souvenir." She gestured towards the gate, where rested Pettigrew's still-clothed left leg (from the knee down).

"Peter never did get the hang of Apparating under stress," murmured McGonagall. Shaking herself, she conjured a goblet, filled it with water, and passed it to Hermione, who thanked her and started cleaning her mouth out.

"All right then," said Harry wearily. "Do you want to call the Aurors, or shall I?"

"I'm sure that's not necessary, Mister Potter," came the avuncular voice of Albus (etc.) Dumbledore. "I will send them all the pertinent information."

The student body had finally caught up with them, accompanied by several staff members. The Weasley twins caught Harry's eye and mouthed "Bad luck" in synchrony.

"I rather think it **is** necessary, Headmaster," said McGonagall acidly. "The entire school just witnessed these four chase **someone** down here—"

"Six," interjected Harry. At McGonagall's questioning look he explained, "There's six of us here," and proceeded to count out each of his nakama in turn, starting with Ron. As the crowd were staring at Mandy and Muon, Ron surreptitiously passed the Map back to his brothers.

McGonagall nodded to him, then turned back to her superior. "I'm sorry, these **six** just chased someone down here, and **whoever** he was, he fired off several Killing Curses. That, regardless of anything else, **demands** that we call the Aurors."

Dumbledore eyed his deputy, weighing his options, and decided to concede the point. "Then let us adjourn to my office; we can Floo them from there." He looked around. "Hagrid, Professor Flitwick, would you please guard the fugitive's limb until the Aurors can take charge of it?" The mismatched pair nodded and took up their position. "As for everyone else, I believe the excitement is over for the day. We should all return to our own business." He waved in the direction of the castle.

Once the crowd started to disperse, Dumbledore turned to Mandy. "I do not believe I recognise the crest you bear. Whom do you serve?"

"I am proud to serve the house of Master Harry's guardian," said Mandy, giving Dumbledore a perfectly-executed curtsey. "Among other duties, I am tasked with ensuring Master Harry's safety; when he came into danger today, I was required to provide assistance. I apologise for entering your demesne uninvited, but I am sure you understand that the circumstances required it." She curtseyed again.

Dumbledore managed to stop himself from gaping at Mandy's sheer eloquence; the others there who were familiar with house elves were not so restrained. "Indeed," said the headmaster. "And what is the name of Mister Potter's guardian? Gringotts are not being forthcoming, to either the Ministry or myself."

"Ah," said Mandy. "I have been given strict instructions as to my response to that question. »ahem« 'Sore wa... himitsu desu'."

Dumbledore gave her a puzzled look. "I beg your pardon? I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it?"

"Certainly," said Mandy. "'Sore wa... himitsu desu'. Please understand, that is all I am allowed to say on this matter."

"Of course," murmured Dumbledore. "Well, the crisis appears to be over, and unfortunately the good people from the DMLE will not accept any testimony from you, so you should probably return to your master now."

Mandy turned to Harry and curtseyed to him. "I will see you later, Master Harry."

"Thanks for your help today," he replied. Mandy gave him a quick wink, hidden from Dumbledore, then popped out.

"So, to the castle!" declared Dumbledore, taking the lead. Harry and his nakama dropped back a little for privacy.

"Good thing McGonagall didn't ask how we knew we knew Scabbers was Pettigrew," murmured Ron.

"Good thing someone stuck her fingers down her throat at just the right moment to distract her," whispered Hermione.

"You never," gasped Ron, muffling his laughter.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The Aurors were initially highly sceptical of their claims, but fortunately Professor McGonagall suggested that they use the Headmaster's penseive to view their memories (much to Dumbledore's secret consternation). Unfortunately Harry's memory was too fogged to be of any use (he didn't want anyone spotting his unusual spells), but those of his three human friends and McGonagall were more than enough for a positive identification. Once the Aurors left, McGonagall deducted two points from each of them for putting themselves in danger, then gave them back five each for bravery, tenacity, and (in Harry's case) reading ahead and mastering the Incarcerous and Bombarda spells — so she was led to believe, anyway. His final casting was explained away as 'accidental magic brought on by frustration'. Muon had refused to be parted from Harry during the entire proceedings, so Dumbledore completed the awards by giving the Owlery five points for her "gallant participation", which of course sent her into another bout of insufferable smugness.

Once they escaped from being the centre of attention of the entire school over lunch, they all (including Mandy, because the heck with what Dumbledore wants) regrouped with the twins in a secluded, empty classroom, and did their best to stop each other from beating themselves up over losing Pettigrew.

The nearby corridors were deserted, so fortunately no-one overheard Lina's outraged shout as soon as she gained control: "I **knew** the little shit was ogling me while I changed!"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

That night, Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds, raised several glasses in memory of his friends Lily and James Potter at the Hog's Head. As the evening wore on, he became involved in a card game with a hooded stranger. Luck was on both their sides: Hagrid won the game, and left with a large egg as his prize; and the stranger gained a vital piece of information.

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Wormtail is in the wind, and Norbert approaches! Two events precipitated early, thanks to the butterfly effect.

Redripper666: I agree that certain MacGuffins in the series, particularly the Marauder's Map, were not well thought out by the original author, and this makes it difficult for authors to make them work sensibly. To get around that problem, I'm interpreting the Weasley Twins' use of the Map as "see all but misunderstand", as opposed to "see nothing until the plot demands". I hope that works for you?


	8. HORROR! Lina's No Free Lunch!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Once again, thanks to everyone who is following, has favourited, or has reviewed this story.

Some dialogue by Rowling, because why reinvent the wheel.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathy.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**HORROR! Lina's No Free Lunch!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

At the end of dinner, the evening after Pettigrew's escape, Professor McGonagall came over to the Gryffindor table. "Mister Potter, the Headmaster has asked to see you in his office."

Harry glanced around his friends and shrugged. "He probably wants to talk about Pettigrew's escape. I'll see you in the common room." He turned back to McGonagall and stood. "Lead on, Professor."

McGonagall asked Harry a few friendly questions about how he was settling in as she led him up to the third floor. Once there, she went up to a large gargoyle in an alcove, and said with a grimace, "Ice mice."

The gargoyle stepped to one side, and the wall behind it opened up to reveal a moving spiral staircase.

"This is handy," said Harry as the staircase began to take them up several floors. "People would have no trouble getting to classes on time if we had **these** in the main stairwell, instead of stairs that actually **try** to make you late."

"Hogwarts has been... **improved** upon many times through the centuries since it was first built," said McGonagall. "Some of the changes were more frivolous than others... but the tradition is to leave them in place nonetheless. Unless they constitute an actual danger, of course."

"Ah," said Harry. "That explains why we have to actually climb through a hole to get to our common room, I suppose?"

"Indeed," said McGonagall, thinning her lips. "Neither dignified nor particularly safe, but it **is** tradition..."

"I suppose it's also a tradition to only sort fit, able-bodied people into Gryffindor?" said Harry.

McGonagall gave him an odd look, but the staircase stopped just then. It left them standing at a highly-polished wooden door, sporting a brass griffin knocker. McGonagall gave one solid knock, which was immediately replied to by a slightly muffled "Come in!" She opened the door and ushered Harry inside.

The Headmaster was sitting behind a large desk, but rose when they entered and offered them seats. Harry sat directly opposite him, and McGonagall took a chair off to one side.

"So Harry — may I call you Harry?" Harry shrugged. "It **has** been a rather exciting end to your first week, has it not?"

"Just a bit," Harry admitted. "Finding out that the person jailed for betraying your parents was never given a trial was a bit of a shock." Both Dumbledore and McGonagall raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't comment, and Harry went on, "Discovering that someone who may have been their **actual** betrayer was sleeping not five metres away was something else again. As for being the target of a Killing Curse— **again**..." He shrugged. "We all talked it through though; I think we're all right."

"That is comforting to hear," said Dumbledore. "Please do not hesitate to talk to Madam Pomfrey or Professor McGonagall if any of you have any lingering problems over this." Harry nodded, and Dumbledore went on, "Now, I was hoping you might help me with a small problem. That most unusual house elf who came to assist you today was unable to tell me the name of your new guardian. Perhaps you would be so kind? It is rather important that I, and the Ministry, are made aware of the arrangements that have been made for you. We must ensure you are in a safe and suitable environment, after all."

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't help you there. As Mandy said, 'sore wa himitsu desu'. And you misspoke earlier, by the way. Gringotts made sure that the correct people in the Ministry were told who my new guardian is, and where we're living. They also made sure that they were sworn to secrecy, so I'm glad to hear you weren't able to find out."

Dumbledore sighed in disappointment, then caught Harry's eye. "I really need to know where you're living, Harry." He pushed a Legilimency probe into Harry's mind, but all he saw, for a brief instant, was a pair of angry green eyes, framed with red hair; then everything was consumed in fire and he was thrown out.

Harry had no real idea what had just happened, but he felt Lina's anger spike and saw Dumbledore rock back in his chair suddenly, and guessed that some form of mind-reading was involved. He decided to use the moment to do some much-needed venting. "Really? I'm very glad to hear that you've finally realised the importance of a 'safe environment' for a child. Because you certainly didn't appear to have a **clue** ten years ago, when you **illegally** blocked my godparents from taking up their responsibilities." He turned to McGonagall. "Did you know that my first ever memory is of being beaten for burning the breakfast toast? That I thought my name actually was 'Freak' until I was five years old?" His head of house looked stunned, but Harry had already turned back to Dumbledore. "That, right up until my new guardian rescued me, I spent every night and large parts of most days locked in a cupboard barely big enough to crouch in? Trust me, Headmaster, I have **absolutely no** intention of you ever finding out my guardian's name, **nor** where we live."

"Mister Potter," said McGonagall. "I think it would be best if you returned to your friends now."

Harry turned to his head of house, and was astonished by just how angry she looked — fortunately, none of it directed at him. He nodded and stood. Turning to leave, he said, "Perhaps you could ask the Headmaster this: one child in a household turned up at school with every possible treat, perfect clothes, and was obviously well-fed, while the other had only the barest essentials, badly-dyed hand-me-downs, never seemed to have enough to eat, and didn't even know to answer to his own name... given those details, just **how** were the teaching staff convinced to not call Social Services?"

As McGonagall's eyes snapped back to glare at the Headmaster, Harry took his leave. As the door began to close behind him, he called out, "And stay out of my mind, **Headmaster**!"

The door closed on McGonagall's outraged shout.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry quickly found an empty room in a deserted corner of the castle, and took turns with Lina in fireballing the walls black. Once the main chunk of their frustration and anger was worn off, Harry went back to the Gryffindor common room to join the others.

The rest of that evening, and the Sunday that followed, were mostly filled with talk for Harry and his friends. The Weasley twins explained everything they knew about the map, congratulated Lina over her exploration, and gave her some hints on how to wind Snape up further. Hermione led a discussion on Harry's theory of how the Sorting Hat should work. Harry retold the story of his recent life, with Lina and Mandy's participation included this time. When Mandy came to visit on the Sunday afternoon, she told Hermione everything about the nature of house elves and how they are treated; Hermione came away with another crusade to occupy her spare time.

Sunday dinner brought some unwelcome news.

"May I have your attention, please!" Albus (etc.) Dumbledore's amplified voice overrode the students' mealtime chatter. He waited for the last few to finish talking, then went on, "Dessert shall be brought out shortly, but first I have an important announcement to make.

"As you probably all know by now, yesterday saw the unmasking and escape of one Peter Pettigrew, long thought to be a dead hero of the last War. The Ministry of Magic have decided that he will be filled with thoughts of revenge against our own Harry Potter, and will stop at nothing to get back into Hogwarts to wreak that revenge. In light of this, an emergency order was signed earlier today, to move a contingent of the Guards of Azkaban from their posts at the prison, to take up watch around Hogwarts." Dumbledore waited for the various gasps and cries to die down, then went on, "They will not be on the actual grounds. However, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises. It is not in their nature to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors, and to pass the message on to anyone who may have missed this announcement.

"Now, let us all fortify ourselves against the dementors with something sweet!" He clapped his hands, and the dessert courses appeared.

"Bloody hell," said Ron, taking an entire swiss roll for himself. He ignored Hermione's annoyed glance and went on, "Dementors? Someone at the Ministry has gone nuts."

"I'm sure they have our best interests at heart," said Hermione, looking in vain for some fresh fruit.

"Even so," said Neville, "it seems a bit extreme. Not to mention rather daft. If Pettigrew wanted revenge, surely he'd have done something during the week? Why wait until he's been exposed, driven from the castle, and lost half a leg?" He took a slice of apple pie, and offered one to Hermione.

"Good point," said Harry, reaching for a small treacle tart. "Not to appear thick or anything, but what's a dementor?"

"I have no idea," admitted Hermione, giving in and accepting the pie slice. "I was going to look them up later."

Ron mercifully emptied his mouth before responding. "I doubt you'd find much," he mumbled.

"It's one of these things that everyone knows, but no-one talks about," explained Neville. "They're... some sort of spirit. All you ever see of them is a dark, ragged cloak. They bring out your worst memories to feed on them, and if they get to close..." He shuddered.

"They suck out your soul," said Ron, shuddering himself.

"Pardon?" said Hermione. "Your actual soul? You have empirical proof of this?"

"Wot?" said Ron dumbly.

"I don't know about 'empirical'," said Neville, "but someone who's had the Dementor's Kiss... well, their body's fine, heart beating and all, but there's no person left in there. **Something** gets sucked out, and what's left is just a shell."

"That's **awful**," said Hermione. "And wizards use these things to guard their prison? Why?"

Neville shrugged. "Well, no-one would risk getting past them. Also... it makes sure the prisoners are truly being punished."

Hermione almost went off on a tirade at that point, but she remembered just what some of those prisoners had done to Neville's parents, and gave him a bye on that one.

Her self-control didn't survive Ron pointing out that the Kiss was used as a method of execution.

Wincing at Hermione's viciously logical shredding of the concept of capital punishment, Neville turned to Harry. "You're awfully quiet. Are you all right?"

Harry shrugged. "I'm fine. Just thinking about those... things. I've a feeling that something bad is going to happen..."

He stayed in this quiet mood until the Headmaster left the hall at the end of dinner. Harry excused himself from his friends at that point, went to the staff table, and approached McGonagall.

"Professor, could I have a quiet word with you?"

"Certainly Mister Potter. Do you want to come up to my office?"

Harry shrugged. "If you want, but I'm happy enough here." He gestured around the hall, indicating the remaining students and staff, who were making their way out.

"As you wish." She came down from the staff table and sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, gesturing for him to join her. "What can I do for you?"

"I—" Harry stopped and blushed. "I need to talk to my House head, not my Transfiguration teacher or the Deputy Head. Is that all right?"

"Of course," nodded McGonagall.

"Well... are you able to tell me anything about the rest of your meeting with the Headmaster last night? I understand if it's private, or if you'd rather write to my guardian..." He trailed off, putting on a slightly pathetic mien in the hope of wheedling something out of her.

"There really isn't much to tell," she sighed. "He believes you're exaggerating about how bad your life with the Dursleys was. I must admit I was shocked by what you said, but having met them briefly, before you were born, I have to say I'm not surprised. I am truly sorry, Harry," she said, allowing her 'stern teacher' mask to drop momentarily.

"For what?"

"I was with the Headmaster when he left you there. I argued against it, but I was not able to convince him of how inadvisable it was. I should have tried harder."

"At least you tried, Professor," said Harry kindly. "What about my other... accusations?"

"At the time, I felt that he had explained them away as coincidence, but looking back on it... he was very evasive." She frowned. "Mister Potter, if I wrote a letter to your guardian, how would I have it delivered?"

Harry smiled. "Muon would take it for you. I'll ask her next time I see her; once she knows it's all right she'll probably take it from you. She's very smart."

"I had noticed," said McGonagall with the hint of a smile at the corner of her lips. "Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"

Harry got up. "No thanks Professor, that was all. Unless you have any advice regarding the dementors?"

Standing, McGonagall looked him in the eye. "Stay well away from them."

"Yeah..." mumbled Harry. "I definitely have a bad feeling about this..."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

It didn't take long for Harry's foreboding to be proven correct. The first three days hadn't been so bad; the dementors' influence was restricted to a slight heaviness in peoples' minds, and an almost imperceptible chill in the air. The Thursday after their arrival started very well indeed: Muon had woken Harry up with a letter from Mandy, letting him know that Sirius Black's trial had been set for the following Monday — and he had already been moved to a Ministry holding cell that Tuesday. As a bonus, they were due to have their first flying lesson in the afternoon.

Hermione and Neville found Harry's enthusiasm for the prospect to be rather odd: Hermione because she wasn't that fond of the idea herself, and Neville because, "Well, you've already flown yourself, haven't you? Surely that's more fun?"

Harry had of course demonstrated _Ray Wing_ to his friends; very briefly, in case they got caught. It had been deemed 'wicked' by Ron, but in his expert opinion a broom was probably faster, and maybe a bit more manoeuvrable. Harry enjoyed flying, but rarely got the opportunity to for fear of being seen, so he was definitely looking forward to the chance to do it out in the open.

Admittedly, they had been paired with the Slytherins. However, Harry hadn't got very far with his promise to at least try to make friends in other houses, so on the way to the grounds he led his three friends over to the four Slytherins that weren't Draco's immediate clique (the girl that followed him everywhere and their three bodyguards). He was about to strike up a conversation when Neville put a restraining hand on his arm, and approached the blonde girl.

"Good morning, Miss Greengrass. I've been most remiss in not paying my respects before now. I hope you have been keeping well since we last met?"

Daphne Greengrass held out her hand to Neville, who shook it gently. "Well enough, Master Longbottom. And yourself?"

"As you say, well enough. May I introduce my friends?" At the girl's acquiescence he introduced each of his friends, making a point of using their titles and surnames, then introduced her to them. She in turn made the introductions for her three companions. Theodore Nott merely grunted "Longbottom, Potter... Weasley... Miss," when it was his turn, but Blaise Zabini shook each of their hands, lingering slightly over Hermione's and giving her a most charming smile. The redhead girl also shook their hands, and immediately asked them all to call her Tracey (somewhat to Miss Greengrass' exasperation), to which they all responded in kind. Ron had hesitated to take a slimy Slytherin's hand, but Hermione glared at him until he did, and the others didn't appear to take any offence. The seven (excluding Nott) chatted about trivial topics — the unseasonably cold weather, recent classes, and so on — until they reached the lawn where stood a rather intimidating woman by the name of Madam Hooch, surrounded by broomsticks.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

They had been warned by the Weasley twins not to expect too much from the school brooms; Harry decided that they hadn't gone far enough. His looked like it was ready to fall apart.

"Hold your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say '_Up!_'"

The students all shouted the command. Harry's broom responded at once, as did Draco's, Miss Greengrass', and a couple of others. The rest twitched or rolled over. Ron, and most of the rest of the class, managed to get theirs up on the second attempt, just leaving Neville, Hermione, and the larger Slytherin girl.

"Don't worry you two," whispered Harry. "I'll catch you if you fall."

Hermione smiled at him, then whispered back, "What if we fall at the same time?"

"Try not to," said Harry with a smirk.

Somewhat reassured, they both said "Up!" This time, their brooms responded.

Madam Hooch made her rounds of the class, checking everyone's grip. She had to spend some minutes convincing Draco that he was **not** in fact the second coming of Neil Lament (her wording), and needed to listen to her instructions. She then spent a few moments in discussion with Miss Greengrass, pointing out that while indeed a **lady** does not straddle the broom, Miss Greengrass was as yet a **girl**, and had best learn to fly the easy way before attempting side-saddle (and that if she wished, she could sign up for the deportment class in a year's time). Finally she was tentatively satisfied with their performance, and had them do a few simple take-off-and-land exercises. Neville and Hermione's apprehensive grimaces soon changed to grins as they discovered there was nothing to be afraid of.

After a few repetitions of the exercises, Madam Hooch declared that the class was ready to try a few circuits. Carefully, like a row of wobbling ducklings on their first trip to the pond, the class took to the air and started around the lawn's perimeter. They were only half way around when disaster struck.

First, Seamus' broom let out a deafening »crack« and a shower of sparks, then plummeted to the ground. Madam Hooch immediately ran over to him, and missed seeing what happened next. Draco, who had been immediately behind Seamus, pulled up sharply, and something failed in **his** broom. Rather than plummeting, it took off at its highest speed. Harry caught sight of Draco's face as he zipped past: there was no sign of a sneer now, as Draco desperately fought to turn his broom. Harry immediately brought his own broom round and shot after him.

Perhaps Harry's broom was overpowered by his magic, or it was simply in better condition than Draco's. Either way, he managed to catch up after only a few moments of headlong flight. "Draco!"

Draco risked a quick glance towards Harry. "What do you want, Potter?"

"You've lost control, you're gaining height—"

"Yes I **had** noticed that Potter, thank you—"

"—so I was wondering, do you want a lift back?"

Draco turned to glare at Harry for a moment, but saw only sincerity in his expression. "All right. Do you have a plan?"

"I get in close, but a bit lower; you hook your right leg over my broom and grab hold of my shoulders. Then I'll pull up, and you just let your broom fall away."

Draco thought for a moment, then called, "All right. That should work."

Harry slid a bit forward on his stick, then flew in as he had described. Draco managed the transfer to Harry's broom without too much trouble, but the added weight had it dropping rapidly. Harry fought to pull it up as Draco's broom headed off into the mountains, but the best he could manage was a controlled descent to a paltry two metres altitude, where it toddled along at perhaps half its previous speed. "Still better than walking, eh?" he called back to Draco. Draco declined to answer.

By the time they were about half-way back to the castle, they could see the rest of their class standing in a group, waving and shouting. Madam Hooch had a firm grip on Neville's arm — holding him back. Harry was wondering why, when he noticed that it was getting very cold all of a sudden.

"I don't want to worry you Potter," said Draco through chattering teeth, "but—" Suddenly, Draco's voice was drowned out by a rushing noise in Harry's head.

"_Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"_

"_Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..."_

"_Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—"_

Faintly, another voice intruded into Harry's head. "_Wake up Harry, I'm not taking over with this poncy git's arms around me!"_ Then it was submerged again.

"_Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy..."_

Evil, high-pitched laughter filled Harry's mind, and with a remembered flash of green, he blacked out.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"Mister Potter! **Mister Potter!**"

Harry came to. He was lying on the grass, staring up into the sky, which was partially eclipsed by Madam Hooch's head. "What happened?"

"Two dementors almost caught you on your way back. I've never **seen** such an idiotic display... nor such a brave one. Five points to Gryffindor, for rescuing your classmate."

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure that I did. I think I passed out on the way back."

"That you did. Fortunately, Mister Malfoy was able to keep control of your broom, and got you inside the wards safely." She turned; Harry followed her eyes to see that Draco was sitting beside him. "Three points to Slytherin, for your quick thinking." She turned back to Harry. "Do you think you can stand, Mister Potter?"

Harry tried raising himself onto his elbows. "Probably."

"In that case, the two of you should probably pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey. I'm sure your friends will see you safely there." She stood up and turned to the rest of the class. "I think, under the circumstances, we shall finish up here. Well done everyone." She added over her shoulder to the two boys, "You may want to consider joining your houses' Quidditch teams next year."

Harry and Draco got up together. As their friends started towards them, Draco hissed, "This doesn't make us friends, you know."

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Harry. "But you know us Gryffindors; any chance to show off our bravery..."

Draco grunted. "I don't like the idea of being in your debt, either."

Harry grinned. "Well, you sort of saved me too. Call it even?"

Draco gave him a sceptical look. "It isn't really, but if you want..." He moved closer and whispered, "What happened to you there? I could feel their darkness, but you passed right out."

"Not sure," said Harry. "Maybe I've just had more bad things happen to me." Draco and Harry's friends came up, all saying variations on the theme of "Are you all right?"

After being reassuring, the two groups began to make their separate ways back to the castle. Harry called over, "Oi Draco! How's the laugh coming?"

"Ha ha," Draco dead-panned back.

"Well if you're not even going to try..." Harry sighed loudly.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once Madam Pomfrey had looked them over, she presented the two boys with giant chunks of chocolate, then sent them away. With a couple of hours still to go before dinner, and nothing to fill them with, Harry led his friends out into the sunlight again, away from the other students.

"All right. First off: Lina, I know you would have taken over if Draco hadn't got control of the broom, so I'm not angry with you for not doing it. Also, I actually **heard** you there. Can you try again?"

Harry got a feeling of warmth, which he associated with Lina being comforting, but no actual words. "Sorry Lina... looks like I have to be in a near-death situation to hear you properly. Fantastic..." He turned to the others. "I expect Lina has things she needs to say; can you keep an eye out for anyone coming?" When they all nodded, Harry sat back against the castle wall, and let Lina take over.

"All right, first off: can we please stay away from the soul-suckers from now on? I mean, I like the whole 'two meals for the price of one' idea, but I'd rather not be one of them!" She giggled. "Anyway, that was really brave of you. If you keep saving him like that, he'll turn out to be a really good rival." The others rolled their eyes at this. "Seriously though. I could see what you were remembering there. Whatever they actually are, those dementors knocked something loose in your head: a memory from when... well, you know. I don't think you saw it all; you passed out when you reached the point baby-you was hit. But baby-you didn't pass out, so the memory kept playing. Aside from a certain rat coming in and dragging Big V's wand away, nothing happened for a while; your memory seemed to skip forward a bit. Last thing I saw, just before the hawk lady woke you up, was a big hairy bloke picking you up and taking you out. A very distinctive, **very** big hairy bloke."

"Hagrid?" said Hermione.

"Yep. He certainly seemed to be familiar with the house, and with Harry's parents. So, maybe you should all go have a chat with him, about the old days. Maybe he could tell you some stories?" Lina started to release control back to Harry, then grabbed it back and added, "Oh, while I remember: on the off-chance you **do** run into dementors again, and you can't get away: try _Blast Ash_ on them. I don't know if they count as having a spirit, but it's your best shot. Of course, the Ministry might be annoyed with you for bumping off some of their employees, but..." she shrugged, "the heck with them. We should try to practice _Assha Dist_, _Ra Tilt_, and _Elmekia Flame_. I suspect _Elmekia Lance_ would just piss them off." She grinned at Hermione, who was bouncing up and down on her toes. "I'll hand back to Harry now, so you can go see Hagrid. He can explain those spells for you."

"So?" asked Hermione when Harry came back.

"They're all Spirit Shamanism spells — Spirit is the fifth element." The four started to walk down the hill towards the hut that they had heard belonged to Hagrid. "_Assha Dist_ is a general undead-killing spell. _Elmekia Lance_ is the one Lina and I am most familiar with; it's a low-powered attack spell that can hurt minor spirits and knock people unconscious. _Elmekia Flame_ is a much stronger version of it, and _Ra Tilt_ is stronger still. In the story, Lina's friends used those two much more often than she did."

"What about _Blast Ash_?" asked Hermione.

Harry shuddered slightly. "It's different. It's black magic, for one. It can cover a pretty wide area if you want, or a single... target. It blasts anything living, or anything with a spirit, into a pile of ash."

"That's horrible," said Neville. The others voiced their agreement.

"It is," said Harry. "I still have nightmares about it. But sometimes, people leave you with no choice..."

Neville and Hermione both threw an arm around Harry, and they walked the rest of the way to Hagrid's hut in silence.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

When Harry knocked on the hut door, there was a short silence, then the sound of someone stumbling around and knocking things over. After a not-particularly-muffled bout of swearing, which had Hermione turning red and Ron taking mental notes, the door opened a crack and Hagrid peered out suspiciously. "Oh! Afternoon, kids. What can I do for you?"

"Good afternoon, Mister Hagrid," said Harry politely. "We were just talking about the school, and how (except Hermione) our parents met here, and Ron remembered that his dad had mentioned you as a good friend. So Neville and I were wondering..." He tailed off, feigning a little sadness.

"Arthur Weasley an' Molly Prewitt, o'course. Good friends, them; we still meet up now an' then." He came out of the hut, keeping the door tight against himself, but even so letting out a blast of extremely hot air before getting it shut. Gesturing to the four to follow him, he went over to the nearby wood-pile, where there were several conveniently-sized stumps to sit on. "And o'course I remember Lily Evans an' James Potter, young 'Arry... an' you'll be Frank Longbottom an' Alice Fortescue's boy, then?" Neville nodded. "Good kids, the lot of them, though James could be a right scamp at times, 'im an' the others he ran about with. Right shame what 'appened to them... 'eroes, they were." Hagrid looked like he was about to cry, but he sniffed and went on, "And I 'ear now that Sirius Black, 'im who we all thought 'ad betrayed 'em, was innocent all along? Dark days they were, an' terrible things 'appened. Azkaban's no place for an innocent man, let me tell you."

Hermione glanced at the others, and got subtle nods from them all. "You were in Azkaban, Mister Hagrid?"

"None of the 'mister', please — 'Ermione, right?" She nodded. "Just ''Agrid', if you would; it's what your parents called me — not yours o'course 'Ermione, but the others'." He shivered. "Aye, I was there. Long time ago, durin' the war against Grindelwald. Bad things 'appened then too, an' the Ministry found it easier to blame me than to look for the real cause." He shook his head. "Like your godfather, I suppose... while all along it were quiet little Peter who'd done it."

"We're still not sure **what** happened," said Harry, "although it's starting to look that way. After Sirius' trial, we'll know for certain."

"What else could it be though?" said Hagrid. "Everyone thought 'e was an 'ero, 'e could 'ave come forward any time an' no-one would 'ave thought the worse of 'im." He sighed. "Maybe I should've passed you on to Sirius that night, but Dumbledore said you 'ad to come to 'Ogwarts for safety, an' then he left you with Lily's kin. Best place for you, I suppose."

"Not exactly," said Harry diplomatically. "But I used to dream about a being carried by a giant hairy man on a motorcycle, flying through the clouds. Was that you?"

"Merlin, 'Arry, you weren't but a little tyke back then! An' you remember? Aye, that were Sirius' bike; 'e gave it to me when I told 'im I 'ad to take you to 'Ogwarts. Said it would be safer. I wondered about that, when 'e were caught later on."

Ron broke the brief silence that followed. "Dumbledore must trust you a lot, getting you to pick up Harry like that."

"Oh, I'd do anything for Dumbledore. Great man. 'E got me this job, after that business back in the war. Weren't no-one else would take me on after that. So o'course if'n 'e 'as to pick up somethin' valuable, whether it be young 'Arry 'ere, or Mister Flamel's stone from Gringotts — good thing that, given the break-in — 'e always comes to me."

"Or if he needs a Cerberus to help guard the third-floor corridor?" said Ron quickly.

"What do you know about Fluffy?" asked Hagrid.

"'Fluffy'? Seriously?" said Harry. "Anyway, **everyone** knows about that monster. Dumbledore practically begged us all to go look in that room, the way he announced that it was off-limits."

"You kids should learn to be told, though why I'm botherin' to say that to the son o' James Potter an' the brother o' the Terrible Twins I don' know. An' anyway, Fluffy's no monster. 'E's big alright, but 'e wouldn't 'urt a fly, so long as it stayed away from what 'e's guardin'. An' don' you try askin' what that is, 'cause it's Dumbledore's secret, all right? Only folks who know are me an' the perfessers who helped protect it."

"We won't," said Hermione dutifully, followed by a chorus of agreement from the others.

"You lot 'ad better be gettin' back up to the castle now," said Hagrid. "It'll soon be time for dinner."

"If we come back," asked Harry, "could you tell us some stories about our parents?"

"Be glad to, boys. An' I'll see if'n I can find some stories just for you, 'Ermione."

"Actually, I'd like to hear about Harry's mum," said Hermione. "She sounds a lot like me, from what I've heard."

"I'll do that," said Hagrid with a smile. "You might try askin' Perfesser Flitwick as well; she were somethin' of a favourite of 'is. An' o'course she were great pals with Perfesser Snape... 'til it all went wrong."

"I don't think I'll be asking him about her," said Harry. "He doesn't seem to like me much."

"Lot o' 'istory there, an' some bad blood," said Hagrid. "Two men wooin' the same girl, it'd never work out 'appy for all three. An' o'course your dad an' 'is friends were never very kind to Perfesser Snape when they were boys." Hagrid fell silent, lost in his memories.

"Well, we'd best be off," said Neville, after the silence started to become uncomfortable. "We'll make sure to visit again soon."

"You do that," said Hagrid as they all got up. "Maybe I'll 'ave some tea for you next time."

"Oh!" said Hermione as they were walking off. "The dementors... surely there's some way to fight them?"

"Can't fight 'em as such," said Hagrid, "but you ask Perfesser Flitwick about the Patronus Charm. 'E'll tell you all about it."

"Thanks Hagrid!" said Hermione, as the four headed back towards the castle.

Once out of earshot, Hermione started to collapse in giggles.

"What's so funny?" asked Neville.

"Oh— oh," Hermione pulled herself together. "It's Hagrid. He's like a giant sack full of exposition; you just poke him with the right questions and it all comes flooding out."

"It was rather spectacular," said Harry. "How did you know to ask about the monster dog, Ron?"

"My brother Charlie was always going on about how Hagrid loved big dangerous creatures. He got Charlie interested in dragons in the first place. Anyway, I thought: monster dog in the castle; surely he would be involved? Plus, I had to say **something** to distract him."

"Why?" asked Neville.

"Because he'd just dropped a massive clue to what's hidden in the forbidden corridor," said Ron. "That Gringotts break-in was just a couple of months back, so if anything valuable was moved from there by Hagrid, stands to reason it'd be whatever Fluffy was guarding."

"How very Slytherin of you," commented Neville.

"Stuff it, Hufflepuff," said Ron with a grin. "Anyway, now all we have to do is figure out what this Flamel bloke's stone might be."

"I think Lina's just figured it out," said Harry, as wave after wave of excitement crashed through him. "Quick, over here..." He led the others to the gate tower corner, which was rapidly becoming their go-to place for easy concealment. As he let Lina take control, Hermione gave her little epiphany-gasp.

"The Philosopher's Stone!" chorused the girls. "**Dibs!**" added Lina emphatically. "I'll share, of course," she went on. "I mean, infinite gold; you can't spend it all yourself!"

"Calm down, Big Sis," said Neville. "You're drooling."

"Can you **blame** me?" said Lina. "I knew Fumbletore was hiding treasure here, but this is the absolute **jackpot**! Endless wealth, eternal youth... who **knows** what else that rock can do? Maybe—" she stopped suddenly and went white. "Maybe," she went on, very quietly, "it could even give me my own body..." She staggered, almost fainting, but Neville caught her and wrapped his arms around her. With Hermione's help, he eased Lina down to sit with her back to the wall.

"I **have** to get that stone," Lina mumbled.

"I think the Flamels will want it back," Hermione pointed out.

"But I'm sure we can talk them into letting you borrow it," said Neville quickly.

"I'm more worried about who else is after it," said Ron. "I mean, mental enough to try stealing it from Gringotts, good enough to get in **and** out again without getting caught, strong enough that Dumbledore sticks it behind a Cerberus as the **first** line of defence..." He nodded to himself. "Can't be too many who'd fit that description..."

"Well, there's me..." said Lina, recovering enough to grin wickedly.

"Other than you," said Neville, giving her a hug.

"We'd better get inside," said Hermione, "or we'll miss dinner."

Ron jumped to his feet. "Come on then!" he said.

"Take over, little brother," said Lina. "I need a bit of a rest."

Harry stood up and held up a finger, calling for everyone's attention. "Just one thing." He cleared his throat. "Snape. My mother. Wooing. **EWWWWWWW!**"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Rather than ganging up on the Charms professor, it was decided that Hermione should ask him about the anti-dementor spell. He was happy to meet with her in his office after dinner.

He started by describing the incantation and wand movements, and confirmed that Hermione's attempt to copy them was correct. "However," he said, "though it is simple to cast, this is a very difficult spell to master. Many NEWT-level students are incapable of producing even the slightest effect, since the key to casting a successful Patronus lies in the emotional component. What have you discovered about the nature of dementors?"

"They feed on negative emotion, and drive away positive thoughts. Also their 'kiss' has an... adverse effect on a person." Hermione couldn't quite bring herself to use the word 'soul' without more evidence.

"Precisely," said Flitwick. "The charm relies on the caster bringing up the strongest possible memories of happiness, security... even love. They must suffuse their magic with those feelings, and embody them in the Patronus. As you can see, this is most difficult in the face of a creature which is suppressing every positive thought. Once manifest, however, the Patronus will drive away the dementor, and shield its caster against its effects." He went on to describe the mist shield, and the concept of the fully corporeal Patronus.

Hermione thanked the professor, and went back to join the others.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The four tried their hand at the Patronus charm that evening, but without success, and so were somewhat disheartened when they went to bed. Lina took over once Harry was asleep, but before going out on her nightly Snape-bothering session, she called Mandy, and after a quick discussion gave her some instructions for the next day.

Snape had prepared for her, arriving in the main stairwell much earlier than usual, and finding a dark corner to watch from. However, Lina had been expecting this for the last few nights, and had already perfected her counter-strategy: she flew straight up from the corridor entrance, and tucked herself in to the shadows in the vaulted ceiling four floors above Snape's usual route, with a perfect view of almost the entire stairwell. She settled in for a waiting game.

Snape eventually showed himself, striding into view with his robe billowing around him. Lina cast her illusion, producing her lookalike in Snape's mind, at the very edge of his vision.

Snape was ready for this. "_Homenum Revelio_!" His eyes lit with vicious satisfaction as a glowing aura appeared in a doorway one floor up. "Come out! If you make me chase you now, it'll go hard on you!"

"Bad enough having to put up with the little brats, now the staff are at it as well," grumbled a voice from the doorway. "Do you mind, Professor Snape?"

"Filch? What are you doing here, man?"

Filch hobbled out of the corridor and glared down at Snape. "My job. You know, looking for kids sneaking about, that sort of thing. Glowing like a novelty Christmas ornament won't make it any easier either, so if you don't mind...?"

Snape cancelled his spell with an impatient gesture. "And have you seen any miscreants tonight?"

"Only the one," sniggered Filch, "but he's a bit big to be a student."

Snape was about to retort, but Lina decided that was the perfect moment for her phantasm to drift into view again, head bowed. Snape whipped around and cast _Incarcerous_ at the vision, to no effect.

"What **are** you doing, Professor?" Filch asked in surprise.

"Can't you see her man? She's right there!" Snape gestured wildly at the illusion, which was now crossing right in front of him.

"I think you've been leaning over your cauldrons a bit too closely," said Filch. "There's no-one there."

"What are you talking about? She's **right there**! She might be a ghost or an illusion, but Lily is standing right there!" Snape lunged at the illusion, but instead of allowing him to pass through it, Lina had it side-step neatly.

"Ah," said Filch wisely. "Maybe it **is** potion fumes, maybe it's a guilty conscience... maybe a bit of both? Either way Professor, Lily Evans is dead and buried, and she's not haunting Hogwarts either. **Something's** haunting you though... maybe you should give old Pomfrey a visit?"

Snape only sneered in response, though it was somewhat weaker than usual, and with a swirl of his robes stalked off to the dungeon.

Feeling the satisfaction of a job well done, Lina sneaked back to Harry's dorm. She wrote a quick summary of her night's work, and went to sleep.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry and friends were pleasantly surprised by their Potions lesson the next day. Professor Snape seemed to be somewhat withdrawn: the biting sarcasm of the previous week was reduced, mostly replaced with an introspective gaze and occasional instructions delivered in a distracted monotone. All in all, a vast improvement: Ron, Neville, and Harry all whispered their thanks to Lina after the lesson.

Harry was looking forward to dinner, having been primed to watch out for an announcement by Lina's overnight note. So when Dumbledore stood and asked for everyone's attention, he listened with interest.

"I am very pleased to announce that, due to an unfortunate incident yesterday, the Ministry has had their eyes opened to the dangers of posting dementors near our school. Thanks to the protests of some of our leading citizens, the Minister has been convinced to order them back to their usual haunts at Azkaban."

There were cheers and a round of applause at this news, from both students and staff. Harry looked for Draco at the Slytherin table: he was whispering with his friends and preening. When Harry caught his eye and gave him a nod of acknowledgement and thanks, Draco replied with his trademark smirk. Then Dumbledore tapped his glass with his fork, getting everyone's attention again.

"I should also let you know that our own Harry Potter's mysterious guardian has donated a full two score of Comet T90 training brooms for the use of the school—"

Dumbledore didn't stop there, but the rest of his words were drowned by a sudden whoop of delight from Madam Hooch, backed up by a rousing cheer from most of those currently relying on school brooms. Harry glanced over at Draco again; when he saw the blond Slytherin's face frowning in frustration, he gave him a salute with his glass and a smirk of his own. Draco turned red, and may well have exploded in anger if Dumbledore hadn't spoken again.

"Well said, Madam Hooch," he commented, ignoring the raging blush she had developed. "As I was saying, I hope that this most generous gift will mean our flying lessons are safer and more comfortable for many years to come."

He resumed his seat, allowing the dessert to be served, and leaving Harry to be bombarded with congratulations on having a seriously cool guardian... who was preening smugly inside him the entire time.

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... even one such as Lucius Malfoy cares for his son's safety. Or at least, he understands that he needs to give the appearance of doing so. So, the dementors come, the dementors go. And hopefully we'll have Sirius on the loose soon...

A handful of the teachers at my secondary school wore their academic robes as everyday wear. I can remember the deputy head in particular, who would stride along the corridors with his robes flaring out behind him, never breaking step as the kids dodged out of his way. We called him Batman behind his back... Although he was a much nicer character than Snape, being stern but completely fair, my mental picture of the Potions Professor has always been based on him.

terryie: You're welcome. And all sorts of people are going to be using that phrase to him for a while yet...


	9. INNOCENT! Black is Back!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

Apologies for the even-longer-than-normal delay; I got stuck. I gave my muse some time to regenerate by replaying some of the first Lego Harry Potter game. There's something cathartic about having Tom Riddle drive around the Weasley's garden in a pumpkin-shaped car, flattening Ginny over and over. (I also played a bit of the second one, before remembering just how pants it is.)

JKR is, self-admittedly, no good with numbers. As is traditional, I have revalued the Galleon to be worth rather more than her stated amount. More details below.

Once again, thanks to everyone who is following, has favourited, or has reviewed this story.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathy.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**INNOCENT! Black is Back!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

"_Expecto Patronum_!" Concentrating on the happy memory of being told she was a witch, Hermione pushed everything she had into the spell... and was rewarded with the faintest wisp of silver issuing from the tip of her wand.

"All right! You got it!" cheered Harry.

"Well, not exactly," said Hermione, blushing slightly.

"It **is** really hard," commented Neville. None of the others had even managed as much as Hermione.

"It's supposed to be a NEWT-level charm, after all," said Hermione, nodding in agreement.

"Hang on," said Harry, "it's a charm, right? Like making light, levitating things, and so on?"

"Yes, Harry," said Hermione. "Why?"

"Well... hang on." Harry pocketed his wand and rolled up his sleeves. "Charms are usually easy. Let's try it like this." He opened himself up to the ambient magic, letting it flood into him, then with a flourish released it through his palms. "_Expecto Patronem_!"

A torrent of sparkling mist poured out of the space between Harry's hands, quickly falling to the ground and filling the small dell they were practising in to ankle-height. "Oh," said Harry.

"'Oh' indeed," groaned Hermione. "That's not the Patronus charm, it's actual mist. My tights are getting damp."

"Sorry," said Harry. "It's not even a very good mist spell; I could've filled the entire area if I used _Swightflange_. Ah well, I suppose I'd better stick to trying the wand for this one."

"Next time," said Ron. "The sun's going down; we'd better be getting in or we'll miss dinner."

"Hang on," said Harry. "One last shot... _Elmekia Flame_!" A bright spear of light burst from his hands and splashed against the rocks across the dell.

"Not bad," commented Neville. "I think you're getting the hang of it."

"Still not at full power," said Harry, shaking his head. "I definitely need more practise with the Spirit spells."

"Why are you bothering, anyway?" said Ron as the four gathered up their bags. "The dementors are gone."

"They may not be right on the doorstep any more," said Hermione, "but they're still around. I'm not going to be defenceless against that sort of monster for longer than I have to be." She started up the hill towards the castle.

"What she said," added Harry, following her. "Anyway, you joined in too. What's your excuse?"

Ron shrugged. "Well... it sounds like a cool spell to know. Plus, I was hoping you might teach us some of your magic too."

"You can try if you like," said Harry. "I suppose you could start off with _Lighting_, or one of the easier Air spells."

"What about Earth?" asked Neville.

"Heh," said Harry. "I'm sure there **are** some easy Earth spells, but I've never come across any in the stories. All the ones I know of are really massive effects — giant stone spears thrusting out of the ground, that sort of thing."

"Not for beginners then," said Neville.

"Not really," said Harry with a grin.

"Harry, Muon's here," called Hermione from the crest of the ridge. The owl skimmed over the grass beside her, then pulled up into a neat stall and landed on Harry's wrist.

"Hey girl, where have you been?" Muon raised a leg, presenting the neat scroll tied to it. Harry took it off and unrolled it as Muon hopped up to his shoulder to have a look for herself.

"It's from Professor McGonagall," Harry said. "She wants to talk to the four of us before dinner, in her office."

"We'd better hurry then," said Ron. "We'll be late for dinner as it is."

"What about you Muon," asked Harry. "You off for a hunt?"

Muon bobbed her head, butted Harry's affectionately, and took off in search of small rodents.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"As I am sure you are aware," began McGonagall, "Sirius Black's belated trial is scheduled for tomorrow." Harry nodded. "As the two cases are inextricably linked, the Ministry decided to hold an open inquest into Peter Pettigrew's actions at the same time, and have requested your presence as witnesses." The four glanced at each other, slightly apprehensive. "Unfortunately, the Headmaster decided that there is no real need for you to attend. I only found out any of this today when I received an official permission slip from Mister Potter's mysterious guardian, who has apparently been involved in the Black case to some extent."

Harry had to choke down his initial enraged outburst, so Hermione got her response in first. "Can he **do** that? Just go against the government's wishes at a whim?"

"Not as such," said McGonagall. "He can make the case that your education must come first, but in the end the decision is up to your guardians — **if** they find out about it in time, and for some reason all the school owls are away on 'important business'. Mister Potter, might I prevail upon your owl to assist me?"

Harry nodded. "I'm sure she'd be glad to help. She's out hunting just now, but as soon as I see her I'll send her to you."

"Thank you Mister Potter. I assume that Mister Weasley and Mister Longbottom would gladly trade a day of school to see justice done?" They both nodded eagerly. "I shall contact your respective parents and grandmother for their permission. Miss Granger, I am afraid that as a Muggles your parents cannot be recognised as your guardians in the Magical world. That responsibility falls to—"

"Let me guess, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore?" Harry's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Is there any pie that he **doesn't** have at least one finger in?"

"You are correct, of course, Mister Potter, but please don't interrupt," admonished McGonagall. "As for fingers... I must say that he has them in **all** the pies; the wholesome ones at least."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "But surely if the others are going anyway, he wouldn't be so petty as to stop me?"

"I would hope not, Miss Granger," said McGonagall, though she sounded unconvinced. "I shall certainly broach the subject with him once I have the others' slips in hand."

"Write something for Hermione's parents as well," said Harry. "Just because the law doesn't recognise their rights doesn't mean we shouldn't." Hermione gave him a small smile in thanks.

"Of course, Mister Potter. And Mister Longbottom... since we'll be in London anyway, would you be averse to taking a side-trip to Ollivander's?"

"Not at all, Professor McGonagall," said Neville with a grin.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

McGonagall had all four of their permission slips in her hand when she visited Dumbledore that evening. He was somewhat upset at once again having his will thwarted, but was unable to think of a gracious way to reinforce it. Thus it was that the four were informed that their absence from school for the next day had been approved.

That night, Lina dashed off a quick note to her kitten-loving minion, requesting an early-morning meeting with her. Muon immediately took off with the note, and Lina headed to the library for more research.

Harry briefed the other three on the gist of Lina's note on the way down to breakfast.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"It's very... Ministerial," said Hermione as they walked through the gaudy atrium. They had travelled to the Ministry by a method new to Harry: a rather uncomfortable journey via McGonagall's fireplace which had ended with him sprawled across the atrium's polished stone floor. The others had found this most amusing, as even Hermione had managed the trip without incident.

"That's one way of putting it," said Harry, looking around. "Ah, there she is. Lina!" Harry waved excitedly as the redhead skipped over to them. "Professor McGonagall, may I introduce my guardian, Lina Inverse?"

McGonagall had stopped dead and stared when she caught sight of Lina, but recovered admirably. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Inverse," she said, taking the offered hand briefly. "And I'm honoured that you would trust me with your identity."

"Likewise, Professor," said Lina with a grin. "And any secrecy about my identity is mostly to annoy a certain busybody Headmaster of your acquaintance. To that end... please feel free to tell him you met me today, but could I ask you to respond appropriately to any questions about me?"

McGonagall gave the smallest of smiles. "How does it go... 'sorry wah heameatsue dess'?"

"Not bad, Professor," said Lina. "Sore wa himistu desu."

"Sore wa himistu desu. And may I enquire as to its meaning?"

"Simple enough: 'That is a secret'." Lina grinned.

McGonagall sighed. "Unfortunately, your privacy may no longer be possible. Although the Ministry had intended to make the trial and hearing low-key affairs, I have heard rumours that suggest Headmaster Dumbledore, in his capacity as Chief Warlock, has taken steps to bring in the full Wizengamot — and thus gain personal control over the proceedings."

"Do you have any idea why?" asked Lina, sounding slightly exasperated. "Other than Mumblesnore's inability to keep his nose out of anything to do with Harry, of course."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow at her mangling of the Headmaster's name, but replied, "I'm sure I have no idea. As for your hypothesis... I would normally never consider such a thing, but the last few months — especially the last week or so — have seen a considerable erosion of my faith in the Headmaster, so..."

Lina nodded. "In any case, while my name and appearance may become common knowledge, the rest of my background is still under Ministry seal. While I'm sure that he could find out if he made the effort, I suspect he won't... unless given reason to?"

"I shall try to deflect attention from you," said McGonagall with another almost-smile. "It's the least I can do for one of the school's benefactors. Speaking of which: I must say, your gift has received praise from all quarters of the school."

Lina waved that off. "It was the least I could do. So Harry, are you going to introduce your friends?"

Harry quickly introduced Lina to the other three, who gave adequate performances of a first-time meeting, marred only by Ron, who felt the need to give Lina a wink while shaking her hand.

"Now if you don't mind Professor," said Lina, "I need to have a quick word with my ward in private. Rather than waste time, shall we take separate lifts down to the courtroom?"

"As you wish, Miss Inverse," nodded McGonagall.

They went over to the bank of lifts, and Lina dragged Harry into the first empty one to appear.

"Sleepy times Harry," said Lina. "Get ready to take over, Other Me. _Sleeping_." Earlier Lina took over just as Harry started to collapse. Later Lina went on, "All right, here's the Time Turner. Remember the plan?"

"Of course," snarked Earlier Lina. "I was the one that came up with it, after all! Around two o'clock I find an excuse to leave for the day. I Turn back six hours, and get to Umbridge's office by half eight. She'll take the Time Turner to the Dee-Oh-Em, swap it for its earlier version, and bring it back to me. Then I go find Granny Longbottom, make sure she has everything ready, and get up to the Atrium in time to meet Harry."

"Well done," said Later Lina, patting her earlier version on the head condescendingly. "My Harry's awake now, so put me down for the day and have fun!"

Earlier Lina tapped Later Lina on the head, and incanted "_Sleeping_. Have you been awake for long?" she asked once Harry took over.

"Just as we were meeting up. I slept through the whole day, so this is all new to me."

"Great!" said Lina, pulling him into a hug.

-=o=-

"Miss Inverse appears to be rather... young," commented McGonagall as the others entered a lift of their own. "How much as Mister Potter told you about her?"

"A bit," admitted Neville. "She's related to his mother somehow; not cousins exactly, but something like that. Also, she's older than she looks."

"And she **is** the Head of her House," noted Hermione. "Between her and Mandy, I should think Harry will be quite safe."

"'Inverse' is not a name I am familiar with," noted McGonagall. The others shrugged.

"You'd have to ask her about it," said Hermione. "Harry didn't tell us all that much about her background." ‹_Mainly because there isn't much to tell,›_ she added to herself.

They passed the remainder of the trip downwards in silence.

-=o=-

Once reunited on Level Ten, Lina and McGonagall escorted the four to the assigned courtroom, to find a notice posted beside the doors.

"Reassigned to Courtroom Ten," read Lina. "**Someone** has decided to turn this into a circus."

"And moved it forward by half an hour," said McGonagall. "We'll just make it, if we hurry. This way!"

She led the others down the hall at a very brisk walk. They had to break into a trot occasionally to keep up, and the younger four were starting to get winded by the time they reached the new venue. McGonagall gave them a few moments to catch their breath, then pushed the courtroom doors open and strode inside — rather dramatically, to Harry's mind. The first thing that caught his eye was a full oval of amphitheatre seats, the wide wedge opposite them being occupied by witches and wizards in purple robes. The Headmaster, similarly attired, stood behind a podium in the centre of the wedge. The remainder of the seating was mostly filled by people in everyday robes.

"Ah, it appears our witnesses have arrived," said Dumbledore over the sudden murmurs in the crowded room. Although his voice was jovial enough, Harry noticed that his eyes were most definitely not twinkling, and he appeared somewhat put out.

"Well at least the press are here in force," whispered Lina, nodding towards the collection of stereotypical reporter types in the public gallery.

"You'd better remember to tip them off 'later' then," responded Harry with a grin. "And make sure the venue change notice gets posted as well; I have a feeling Fumblemore wasn't expecting us to know where to go."

Lina nodded. "I'd better go join the audience." She clapped Harry on the shoulder, then went off to find a seat in the public gallery.

"This way please." An Auror in full dress uniform had come over to them just as Lina left, gesturing to a bench to one side of the main court area. McGonagall led her four students over. Once they were seated, Dumbledore banged a small, polished rock against his podium, and announced, "This special session of the Wizengamot of the British Isles is now convened. Madam Umbridge, you have the floor."

Harry looked over in interest as the dumpy, pink-clad woman came out from her seat beyond Dumbledore's podium. »hem hem,« she began. "As some of you are aware, your Ministry recently uncovered a most tragic miscarriage of justice that occurred under the previous administration: the jailing of one of our most noble lords, without any form of trial." She paused to allow the exclamations from the chamber to subside. "It is our intention to rectify this situation today. However, certain recent events have great bearing on this case, and so we shall first hear the statements of those who witnessed them. The Ministry calls, firstly, Mister Neville Longbottom."

The usher-Auror guided Neville to a seat to one side of the Ministry section. Once he was seated, Umbridge went on, "You are Neville Longbottom, currently a pupil at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"Yes, Madam," replied Neville.

"As this is merely a hearing, we shall dispense with any oaths. The Ministry already has your Pensieve recording of the events of the seventh of this month, but could you tell us, in your own words, what you witnessed on that day?"

"Yes Madam. We — Misters Potter and Weasley, Miss Granger, and myself — were discussing certain unusual observations about Mister Weasley's pet rat..."

Madam Umbridge allowed Neville to make his statement, only interrupting to ask for clarification on two points, and to give Dumbledore time to silence the crowd's reactions when the name 'Pettigrew' was mentioned. She then dismissed him with thanks, and called Ron for his statement, then Hermione. All three of them glossed over their identification of the fugitive, only saying that Harry had mentioned the forthcoming trial in front of the rat just before it bolted, and had claimed it to be Peter Pettigrew afterwards.

Once Harry was in the witness chair...

"And how did you come to the conclusion that your classmate's rat was Peter Pettigrew in animagus form?" Umbridge was using a rather sickly-sweet voice that set Harry's teeth on edge, but he bore up.

"I didn't Madam, not at first anyway. We chased after Scabbers when he bolted, but then he changed into... I had been researching my godfather's case, Madam, and had seen photographs of my father and his friends when they were younger. I wasn't absolutely certain that the person the rat became was Pettigrew, but it certainly looked like him, and when I mentioned it to Professor McGonagall she agreed it could have been him."

"Thank you Mister Potter. The Ministry now calls Professor Minerva McGonagall..."

McGonagall's contribution was much shorter than the others', basically being a confirmation that someone, looking very much like Peter Pettigrew, had been pursued to the school ward line by her pupils; that he had transformed into a small creature and back again at points during the chase; and that he had left part of one leg behind when he Disapparated.

"And so to our final witness," said Umbridge. "The Ministry calls Seeker of the Unspeakables."

A hooded figure, probably male by its outline, made its way from the shadows at the back of the courtroom and stood by the witness seat.

"If you would describe your findings, Seeker?"

The hooded head nodded. "The Aurors on scene collected the splinched limb and delivered it to us. We had in storage the finger that was found at the site of the explosion on the First of November, 1981. We performed several blood comparisons and magical resonance tests on the two samples, and can state with certainty that they are from the same wizard, and that that wizard is still alive." Without waiting to be dismissed, the Unspeakable turned and went back to the shadows.

"So," said Umbridge to the court in general, "I believe that we can confidently state that Mister Peter Pettigrew is not in fact dead, is a Rat Animagus — unregistered, as we have been unable to find any record of his ability — and has been hiding out in that form for the last ten years. Are there any objections to treating these as proven facts?"

There were some murmurs around the chamber, but no-one raised an objection. Umbridge was about to continue, when a stern-looking elderly woman raised her wand.

"The Wizengamot recognises Madam Longbottom," said Dumbledore. Harry looked round in interest, and examined his god-brother's grandmother.

"Thank you Chief Warlock. I would like to propose a motion to the Wizengamot: that Peter Pettigrew be stripped of his Order of Merlin forthwith."

There was much rumbling at that, which Dumbledore had to silence by banging his rock again. He cleared his throat, and began, "Let us not act precipitously here—"

»hem hem«

"My apologies Madam Umbridge. You still have the floor, please proceed."

"Thank you Chief Warlock. Madam Longbottom, as my esteemed colleague was about to say, there is much that is still unclear about the situation. Might I ask you to hold off on your motion until the second part of today's business is concluded?" Madam Longbottom rose briefly and bowed to Umbridge. "Thank you. Now, as you are all aware, the discovery of Pettigrew's survival throws much doubt over the events of the First of November, 1981. You may also be aware that this only adds to the doubt already cast by our discovery that the previous administration chose to incarcerate Sirius Black without trial or questioning." The gallery exploded into shouts of dismay and denial, along with many along the lines of 'who cares, he was obviously guilty'. Harry tried to spot the ones who voiced the latter opinion, while Dumbledore banged his rock repeatedly in an attempt to bring them to order.

Finally the crowd settled down, and Umbridge continued, "As you can imagine, Minister Fudge was most distressed to discover the situation — even moreso, as he was one of the first on the scene! His discovery that his then-superiors had flouted the very laws they were sworn to uphold lit the fires of justice and indignation in his heart, and he immediately tasked me with bringing about the trial that is Sirius Black's right by law, to find out once and for all the truth of the matter." She paused for dramatic effect, then called, "Aurors, bring in the accused!"

‹_She got the point across,›_ thought Lina as the doors at the other end of the courtroom opened, ‹_even if she was more than a bit melodramatic. Fudge should get through this blamelessly.›_ She stopped to examine her little brother's godfather as he was led in.

Sirius definitely had the pallor and emaciation that came with a long incarceration, but Umbridge had obviously done her best to ensure he was made comfortable once removed from Azkaban. His hair and beard were clean and untangled, and his clothes, though simple, were in good condition. Those in the gallery more familiar with the ravages the prison wreaked on its inmates were impressed with how collected and aware he appeared to be.

The Aurors led Sirius over to the chair that had stood empty until this point, the one draped in chains. Sirius didn't flinch as, once he sat down, the chains came to life and wrapped around him.

"Are you Sirius Orion Black, now Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?" asked Umbridge

"I am," stated Sirius firmly.

"Lord Black, it is accused that on the First of November 1981 you did **attempt** to murder one Peter Pettigrew, incidentally causing the deaths of twelve Muggles; that you did, at some time prior to that date, conspire to murder James Potter, Lily Potter, and Harry Potter; and that you were a member of the proscribed terrorist group known as the Death Eaters. How do you plead?"

Sirius held his head up proudly. "Not guilty, to all charges." Predictably, the court exploded into chatter, and Dumbledore had to bang away with his rock again.

Umbridge turned to face the Wizengamot. "Esteemed members of the Wizengamot, I request that in the interests of expediency we question the accused under Veritaserum. How say you?"

Dumbledore quickly responded, "I do not believe that we need to take such drastic measures at this point. Should we not take Mister Black at his word?"

Umbridge gestured to Sirius, and said, "Perhaps we should allow **Lord** Black to make his wishes known?"

Sirius straightened his shoulders and announced, "I do not want there to be any room for doubt or misunderstanding. However, I am sure that there will be some who will claim that I am able to resist Veritaserum. To that end, I ask that I be granted the privilege of a Lord of our nation, to make an Unbreakable Vow to tell the truth to my accuser." Once again, the chatter erupted.

Once Dumbledore had gained silence, he said, "Surely we do not need to disrupt our proceedings so? Is **Lord** Black's word not enough?" This was immediately met with shouts of "No!" from the gallery. "Even so," continued Dumbledore, "I see no need to—" »hem hem« "—My apologies Madam Umbridge, you have the floor."

"As it is the accused that has made the request," said Umbridge with a sweet smile to the Chief Warlock, "I feel that we must oblige him. As prosecutor for the Ministry, the vow will of course be made to me. As for the binder, we will need someone of known probity and unimpeachable reputation." Dumbledore started to puff himself up at that point, then deflated abruptly when Umbridge continued, "Might I prevail upon Madam Longbottom to serve in that capacity?" Neville grinned to the others as his Gran stood to murmurs of approbation.

‹_That sounded like it was all scripted out,›_ thought Lina, ‹_except for the Headbastard's interruptions. What's he up to? It's a good tactic though; I wonder if Umbridge or Longbottom came up with it, or if I'll have to suggest it...›_

Once Madam Longbottom had navigated her way to the accused's chair on the courtroom floor, she gestured to Umbridge to take Sirius' hand, then held her wand over them.

»hem hem« "Will you, Lord Sirius Orion Black, answer fully and truthfully, to the best of your knowledge, all questions I ask you for the duration of this trial?"

"I will," said Sirius.

A stream of raw, glowing magic trickled from Madam Longbottom's wand and wrapped around the joined hands, then sank into their skin. Umbridge released Sirius and stood. "Thank you, Madam Longbottom."

They nodded to each other, then Umbridge waited until Madam Longbottom had resumed her seat. Turning to Sirius, she began, "Are you a member of the proscribed terrorist organisation known as the Death Eaters?"

Sirius held his head up and answered clearly, "No." The crowd whispered briefly.

Umbridge went on, "Have you ever knowingly aided, supported, or given succour to that organisation's members, or to its leader?"

"No," replied Sirius. Whispers broke out again.

Umbridge waited for the crowd to become silent, then moved on. "Did you, on the First of November 1981, attempt to murder Peter Pettigrew?"

"No." ‹_I wanted him dead, but only after he'd been convicted. That's not murder.›_

Umbridge gave that a chance to sink in, then continued, "What was your intention in confronting him?"

Sirius drew himself up. "I wanted to find out why he had betrayed James and Lily. I wanted to bring him to justice."

Umbridge nodded. "Did you, while confronting Pettigrew, cause the death of twelve Muggles?"

"No."

"How did they come to die?"

"Peter distracted me by shouting 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?', then fired a Blasting Curse at a gas main behind his back. The Muggles died in the explosion." Sirius hung his head, still ashamed at falling for the trick.

"What did Pettigrew do then?"

"He used a Severing Charm to cut off a finger, then changed into his rat form and dived into the hole made by the explosion. I didn't see him after that."

Umbridge smiled, then said. "Pettigrew accused you of betraying the Potters. Did you?"

Sirius' answer came as a low growl: "No."

"Who did?" said Umbridge lightly.

"Peter Pettigrew." This time it was more of a snarl.

"How can you be sure?" queried Umbridge.

"He was their Secret Keeper for the Fidelius Charm. Only he could tell others of their hiding place."

Umbridge turned to the corner where the Unspeakable still lurked. "The Fidelius Charm is not well-known. Could Unspeakable Seeker elaborate for us?"

The shadowed figure came forward. "The Fidelius Charm is an ancient and very complex spell, which hides a specific fact in the soul of the one designated by the caster as the Secret Keeper. At the time of casting, all knowledge of that fact is instantly erased from the minds of all other people. Only the Secret Keeper can pass that fact on to others, either by speech or writing. Anything which could reveal the secret to others is simply imperceptible to them. For example, if the secret was 'Sirius Black is chained to the accused's chair in Courtroom Ten', nothing anyone could do would reveal his presence there — we would all forget that he was there, and he would be utterly invisible, inaudible, and otherwise unfindable to everyone except the Secret Keeper."

"A very secure spell indeed," said Umbridge rhetorically. "And yet, I can perceive one flaw: if the Secret Keeper were to write the secret down, that note could be passed on to anyone without his knowledge."

"That is the case," agreed Seeker, then retreated to his shadows.

Umbridge turned back to Sirius. "Did you at any time have the Potters' Secret in written form?"

"No," replied Sirius.

"How did you become aware of the secret?" asked Umbridge.

"Pettigrew told me, immediately after Lily Potter cast the spell."

"Are you aware of anyone else who had knowledge of the secret?" asked Umbridge carefully.

"James, Lily, and Harry Potter," said Sirius.

Umbridge smiled. "Do you **suspect** that anyone else had knowledge of it?"

"Pettigrew wrote the secret on a piece of parchment, and gave it to James Potter. They intended to pass it on to Albus Dumbledore, but I am unaware if they did so." Sirius did his best to suppress a feral grin at that.

Umbridge smiled to herself, then turned to the crowd again. "I think we can safely assume that James Potter did not betray **himself**, nor that our esteemed Chief Warlock would have done so." There were several laughs at that, but also some muttering.

"There is only one further matter I feel needs resolved," said Umbridge once the room fell silent again. "When you were discovered at the scene, you were laughing. Why was that?"

"I was in shock," replied Sirius. "My brother in all but blood was dead, betrayed by the friend that **I** had convinced him to use as protection, and I had just been beaten in a duel by the most pathetic duellist I have ever known. I think I went a bit mad for a while."

Madam Umbridge nodded. "Thank you Lord Black." She turned to the purple-robed section. "Given Lord Black's testimony, which by his oath cannot be anything other than the truth, I see no reason to continue this trial. The Ministry is satisfied that Lord Black is innocent of all charges. Chief Warlock?"

Dumbledore looked resigned to the inevitable. "Do I have any objections?"

Harry and his friends held their breaths.

Dumbledore nodded. "Then I declare Lord Black a free man." He banged his podium with the rock three times, and the chains fell off Sirius, who immediately stood and bowed to Madam Umbridge as the crowd disintegrated into chattering.

Dumbledore noticed a single wand raised and lit, and called the court to order once more. "Madam Longbottom?"

Madam Longbottom stood. "Firstly, I trust I speak for the Wizengamot when I apologise to Lord Black for his unkind treatment at the hands of the previous administration," there was a murmur of agreement, which she silenced with a look, "and that I hope he will take his seat amongst us at his earliest convenience." Sirius looked up to Madam Longbottom and bowed. "Secondly, I propose a motion of commendation for Dolores Umbridge, for her staunch work in revealing this miscarriage of justice."

Umbridge glanced up at Lina, who gave her a smile, then around the court, which had broken into applause.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Aside from Dumbledore, who had hustled off somewhere immediately after leaving the courtroom, the main actors had to endure a session with The Press. They were falling over themselves to congratulate Sirius on his innocence being proved, Umbridge on a well-presented case, and Harry on regaining his godfather. The sudden appearance of Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, only added a cherry to the top. Photographs were taken of him formally returning Sirius' wand into his care, and of his handshake with the famous Harry Potter. He also had an announcement for them:

"The Ministry has decided that, to investigate this terrible lapse of proper procedure, and to prevent its recurrence, there shall be a new Department of Magical Oversight. They will start out small, and their exact powers and relationships with the other Departments are yet to be finalised, but I can announce that the first Head of Department shall be our own Madam Dolores Umbridge."

Umbridge's eyes sought out Lina again, as The Press gathered around her with questions, but Lina was taking advantage of her appearance as a mere child to avoid attention. Once Umbridge had given an impromptu statement, the reporters dispersed, leaving a rather flustered, newly-minted Department Head behind, with Harry, Sirius, and Madam Longbottom for company. Lina quickly came over to join them, followed by McGonagall and her other pupils.

"Can I assume you were behind this promotion?" asked Umbridge of Lina, as Harry introduced Sirius to everyone.

"Well..." Lina made a self-deprecating gesture. "I made some suggestions to Madam Longbottom, about a way to ferret out corruption and bad practice in the Ministry, and finding suitable recognition for your hard work. She took it to the Minister and helped him with the details."

"Then my thanks to you both," said Umbridge, somewhat distractedly.

There was an awkward silence, broken quickly by Sirius. "So, who's up for a celebratory lunch? On me, of course!"

"I—" began Umbridge. "Thank you for the invitation, Lord Black, but I must return to my duties. This should be a time for you and your godson to get to know each other." She politely refused a couple of attempts to change her mind, then walked off, still in rather a daze.

"Madam Umbridge is correct," said Madam Longbottom. "We should leave Lord Black and Mister Potter—"

"Not at all," said Sirius, waving his hands vaguely. "Harry and I will have plenty of time to get to know each other; it would be rather awkward if we were left alone on our first meeting. Anyway, I must celebrate my freedom with all of those responsible for organising it. Please?"

Neville turned to his grandmother. "It would be nice," he said. She started to waver; once Harry added his own pleading look she gave in.

"Oh very well. Do you want to wait for Albus?" Madam Longbottom's tone made it clear she wasn't interested in that option.

"Not particularly," said Sirius, underlining the point by starting along the corridor. The others followed in a loose formation. "Actually, I have no idea where he is... I haven't seen him since we left the courtroom."

"I would have thought he'd be here trying to assert control over the situation," said Lina. "Given that he isn't, I suspect he's looking for leverage somewhere else."

-=o=-

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot of Britannia, stared down the minor ministry lackey that dared to thwart him.

"I'm sorry sir," said the file clerk obsequiously, "but all records of Harry Potter's residence and guardianship were sealed in 1981 by order of... ah yes, yourself." She paused to suppress her laughter again. "Only a directive from the full Wizengamot can open them, as explicitly stated in the order."

Dumbledore was about to give a contemptuous snort, then pulled himself together, smiled, and with a twinkle in his eye said, "Exactly correct. Well done."

He turned and left, waiting until he was well out of earshot before snarling and stamping his foot in frustration.

-=o=-

"Indubitably," said Madam Longbottom. "So where do you intend to take us for lunch, Lord Black? And please refrain from mentioning the Leaky Cauldron."

"I'm afraid the only other establishment I can remember is Butterworth's," said Sirius. "Are they still in business?"

"An excellent suggestion, Lord Black," said Madam Longbottom. Neville blanched at the audacity of his grandmother; lunch at Butterworth's could easily cost 25 Sickles per head. "Now, I am sure you will want to visit Gringotts, and spruce yourself up a bit. Shall we meet at Butterworth's at... say, half past noon?"

"I'll let them know to expect us," said Sirius.

Madam Longbottom nodded. "And I expect Mister Potter will want to spend that time with his godfather. As for the rest of us... I believe that Professor McGonagall has some recommendations regarding your wand, Neville?" Neville blanched and started to stammer something, but his grandmother held up a hand to silence him. "Your bravery is not in question, Neville. Your father's wand will be given a place of honour in our home, and you will honour his memory by being the best you can be." Neville nodded meekly. "So, Neville and I will be paying a visit to Ollivander's."

"Should we do something about our clothes?" asked Hermione, who had divined the type of restaurant they were to visit from Neville's reactions.

"A uniform is always appropriate, Miss Granger," said Madam Longbottom, "though Mister Weasley may wish to consider straightening his tie." Ron's hand flew to his neck in embarrassment. "And although Miss Inverse's attire is **unusual**, it is not tawdry or offensive."

Lina grinned at her. "We should also ask Mandy to come. She did almost all of the research to discover Sirius' situation, and what we could do about it."

"And I would never have been able to convince the Minister to do as we wished without her assistance," said Madam Longbottom. "However, I would not expect Butterworth's to be very accommodating..."

McGonagall laughed. "With Madam Longbottom, Lord Black, and Harry Potter accompanying her? They would seat a mountain troll if you asked them to."

Madam Longbottom gave a small smile. "I suppose they would, at that. In that case, I look forward to spending time with her in a more relaxed environment."

They had reached the lifts by this point. Lina said, "We might as well split up here. I'll go with Sirius and Harry. Neville, you're with your gran for Ollivander's. What about you two?" gesturing to Hermione and Ron.

"Well... I wouldn't mind paying another visit to Flourish and Blotts," said Hermione. "If Professor McGonagall could take me?" McGonagall indicated her acquiescence.

Ron, wanting to avert the impending doom of spending the next hour or so in a book-shop with Hermione, nevertheless tactfully chose not to latch on to Harry's party. "I'll go with you and Neville, if that's all right Madam Longbottom? I wouldn't mind Ollivander taking a look at my wand too; it's been in the family for a while."

"I would be glad of your company, Mister Weasley," said Madam Longbottom. "So, until half past noon then?"

They all said their good-byes, and called separate lifts for each group.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once they were in their lift, Sirius turned to Lina and started babbling his thanks to her, with a couple of comparisons to Lily Potter thrown in.

"Slow down, Sirius!" she said. "I wasn't even sure you were innocent at first; Harry couldn't stand not knowing what really happened, so we looked into it as best we could. Even so, it was Mandy that did most of the work; all I did was force Umbridge into giving you a trial. And I'm sort-of related to Lily... it's really complicated. I think we should hold off explaining that for a little while, at least. Main thing is: I managed to convince the goblins to transfer Harry's guardianship to me, but I think he needs a father-figure as well. James and Lily obviously thought you were up to the job; do you still want it?"

"Of **course**!" said Sirius. "Admittedly, they expected that I'd have Alice Longbottom to keep me sensible; I've got a feeling you're not quite so 'responsible' as her."

"Why Lord Black, you flatter me," said Lina, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I'm surprised they gave Harry's guardianship to someone as young—" started Sirius, but Harry leapt in between Lina and him.

"I've only just got my godfather back," he stage-whispered to Lina, "I'd rather he weren't crippled quite yet." He turned to Sirius and went on, "Lina's **sixteen**, all right? She's a bit touchy about looking younger than that."

"Ah," said Sirius. "I do apologise, Miss Lina."

"Technically, it's 'Lady Lina'," interjected Harry. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Long story, which we'll go over later; I think Madam Longbottom needs to hear it too?" He addressed the last part to Lina.

"No need; Mandy already gave Granny L. most of the details," she said. "Anyway, as far as the sensible, staid part of the family is concerned, we've got Mandy for that. Well, sort of," she added, thinking of how excited her aide could get at times.

"Yes, the mysterious Mandy. Will we be meeting her at Butterworth's?" asked Sirius.

"How about now?" said Lina. "Mandy!"

»pop«

"Good morning Mistress Lina, Master Harry! I take it everything went well?"

"Just about perfectly, Mandy," said Lina. "Even your plan to get Umbridge her own department."

"That was mostly Madam Longbottom's idea," said Mandy. "Reward the toad, while removing her poisonous whispers from the Minister's ear."

"You can pass on your congratulations at lunch. However... Mandy, this is Lord Sirius Black. Lord Black, my steward, Mandy."

Mandy gave Sirius a curtsey as he looked her over. Very tall, upright, and... **strong**-looking for a House Elf, wearing a dark-blue frock-coat with matching breeches and shoes, a white ruffled shirt, white stockings, and an unfamiliar crest above her heart. Sirius bowed and offered his hand to her. "Words cannot express my thanks for your help in removing me from that hell. If I can ever be of service, please do not hesitate to ask."

Mandy blushed and took his hand. "You are welcome, Lord Black."

Once they had shaken, he gestured to her crest, and said, "Do you mind?" When Mandy gave permission, he looked closer. "Sable; a chevron inverted and indented vert, in base a dragon... er... tué, I suppose, gules; over all a sword inverted or..." Sirius paused, straightened up, and scratched his head. "Um... that would be... constancy, faithful service, and a love of fire; enlightened warrior — I suppose that means a combat mage, in our case — plus two references to your surname; and a defender of treasure... no wait, the dragon's dead, so... you're actually **advertising** that you're a thief?" Sirius looked at Lina in admiration, who pulled her cloak around to display her own copy of the House Inverse coat of arms.

"I prefer 'asset recovery specialist'," said Lina with a smirk. The lift doors opened, and they started towards the public Floos. "I used to raid bandits for a living. It's also a bit more literal than that; I've had to off the odd dragon on occasion."

"Really?" said Sirius incredulously.

"Believe it," said Harry. "Big Sis is a one-girl cataclysm when she needs to be." He ducked Lina's half-hearted swat to the head, then spotted Hermione and McGonagall. He gave them a wave just before they Flooed out.

"And I was aiming for 'fire is my faithful, beloved servant'," added Lina, "but it's nice to see that the effort in making it meaningful wasn't wasted."

"Eh... my family drilled that sort of thing into me when I was a kid," said Sirius. "Hardly ever get to use it. What's your motto?"

Lina blushed. "I really struggled to get a good Latin one, so I had to go with French. 'Tuez-le avec le feu.'"

"Nothing wrong with a French motto," said Sirius. "Tuez— **really**?" Lina gave him a guileless grin, which had him laughing so much he nearly collapsed.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lina and Mandy were inclined to stay on the edges of any conversation, to let Sirius and Harry bond, but Harry wanted Sirius to bond with the rest of his family as well, and Sirius felt the same way. So the hour or so they spent reactivating the Black vaults, equipping Sirius with the insignia of his Lordship, and getting him a suitable outfit at Madam Malkin's, were filled with chatter: how Lina became a Lady, and some of her exploits from her fictional past; some stories of the Marauders, and a few of the funnier incidents from Harry's school-time so far; the unusual form of magic Harry shared with Lina; and some of the more interesting parts of Mandy's investigation. Harry's time at the Dursleys', like Sirius' at Azkaban, was glossed over with a muttered 'it was bad', and no mention was made of Lina's true nature. By the time they reached Butterworth's, they were well on the way to becoming a family.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Ron, Neville, and his Gran were waiting outside the restaurant when Harry and the rest arrived; Hermione and McGonagall came up the street seconds later.

"Have you been waiting long?" asked Sirius.

"Only a few moments," replied Madam Longbottom. "Shall we?"

Sirius nodded, and held the door open for everyone. Harry and Hermione latched on to Ron and Neville on the way in.

"How did it go?" asked Hermione.

"I have a new wand," said Neville, displaying said instrument as they started up the stairs to the restaurant's main floor. "Apparently I'd have been better off using my mother's all this time; Ollivander says this is very similar to hers. It already feels more alive than my dad's did."

They made congratulatory noises, then Harry asked, "What about you, Ron?"

Ron shrugged. "Turns out Charlie's old wand is a pretty good fit. Ollivander gave me a massive lecture on not taking care of it though; he gave me some wax to use otherwise it might crack."

"You should all give your wands a good polishing every night," commented Sirius from behind them. Hermione blushed mightily, but the double entendre went straight over the boys' heads.

Madam Longbottom had reached the maître d'hōtel's post, and had identified them as Lord Black's party. Once their outer wear had been collected by the staff, the maître led them over to a long table with nine settings. Only a few of the other tables were occupied.

Fortunately the three adults had independently decided to brief their charges on what to expect and how to act. Sirius made a point of seating Mandy at his left before taking his own place at the head of the table. The maître assisted Madam Longbottom into her seat at the foot, leaving the three boys to help the others: Harry helped Hermione, then took his place between her and Mandy; Ron sat Lina at Sirius' right, then sat himself at hers; Neville assisted McGonagall and ended up at his gran's left. Menus were handed out, and after taking an order of drinks the staff retreated to allow them time to peruse.

They were just received their drinks — wine for the adult humans, various fruit juices for the others — when a loud snort of disgust came from across the room. Mandy, who was enjoying the novelty of having a human waiter serve her, looked over to find herself being glared at by a finely-dressed man with ash-blond hair, who Harry recognised from the Wizengamot. He turned to his equally well-dressed and blonde wife and said loudly, "How terrible, that Butterworth's has sunk so far as to—" He cut himself off with a sniff.

Sirius gave Mandy a supporting smile and murmured, "Ignore him." Ron hissed, "Malfoy—" but was cut off by a quick glare from Madam Longbottom.

Lord Malfoy turned to the maître and said, "I find the company no longer conducive to good dining. I hope that this will not become **habitual**." He turned to collect his wife, to find that she had gone over to the Black party's table.

Sirius rose to greet Lady Malfoy and took her offered hand. "Cousin Sirius," she said, "I am most pleased that you have regained your freedom."

"Thank you Cousin Narcissa," replied Sirius. "Perhaps we could meet under more pleasant circumstances?" His eyes flicked over to Lord Malfoy.

"Come, Narcissa!"

A hint of a frown flashed across Lady Malfoy's brow, then she nodded to Sirius. "Perhaps. Good day to you." She turned. "And good day to you, Madam Longbottom, Professor McGonagall." They murmured the appropriate responses as she made a gesture to indicate the others. "Good day to you all." They responded politely, though Ron had to be prodded and only muttered grudgingly.

The Malfoys departed. Madam Longbottom caught Ron's eye and murmured, "You see? Now we look like civilised people, and Lord Malfoy looks like a boor." Ron nodded, still rather wound up.

The maître came over to apologise for the unseemly scene, but as Sirius said, it was no fault of his or Butterworth's. The waiting staff collected their orders, and conversation resumed.

The remainder of their visit to the exclusive restaurant passed without incident. Although Ron and Lina had to savagely curb their normal eating habits, they all enjoyed themselves immensely, especially once Lina put on her posh character and encouraged the other non-adults to copy her. They discussed many things, chief among them being Harry and Hermione's theory about the Hogwarts houses' elemental associations, and what Hermione had discovered about the Sorting Hat's altered criteria.

"I will need to look into that," said McGonagall once Hermione had finished her presentation. "However, I doubt that the Headmaster will be interested in fixing the problem. 'Those criteria have served us well for centuries,'" she said, giving a creditable impression of Dumbledore's condescending voice. "Never mind that encouraging an entire quarter of our population to turn evil is hardly beneficial." She added in a whisper, "Daft auld bampot."

Also discussed was the issue of where Sirius could stay while getting his own house in order. It fell to House Inverse to host him, and Mandy was tasked with getting him settled, as Lina was likely to be indisposed. In fact, as two o'clock approached, she begged their collective forgiveness and left, citing an important meeting.

The others were more leisurely in their departure, taking the time to thank the maître and his staff for a most enjoyable meal. Once outside, they were surprised to find Lina waiting for them.

"My meeting was put back," she explained vaguely, "so I thought that I could help Mandy get Sirius settled. Professor McGonagall, I know you'll be wanting to get these four back to the school, but could I borrow Harry for a quick private chat?"

With McGonagall's permission, Lina dragged Harry into the narrow lane beside the Butterworth's building. "Right, everyone awake. _Counter-sleeping_!" She checked that no-one could see them, then said, "Swap over, please."

Harry let Earlier Lina take over. Later Lina passed a Time Turner to her, then quickly let Later Harry take over. "All right," said Harry. "If you give that to Umbridge just before she leaves for the day — about half five — she'll give you its earlier version. Turn back at eight to meet here."

"All right," said Lina, "but why— of course, we need to let Sirius know what's going on with us."

"Sooner rather than later," agreed Harry. "It isn't fair to keep him in the dark. This is our best chance to demonstrate it and everything."

"True," said Lina. "Come on." She pulled Harry back out of the alley.

They said their goodbyes, including Harry getting long hugs from (in turn) Mandy, Sirius, and Lina. Mandy popped Lina and Sirius home; the rest went to the Leaky Cauldron, where Madam Longbottom Flooed home and the rest returned to Hogwarts.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"I suppose your earlier self is off telling Sirius about your shared nature?" asked Hermione as soon as the four got somewhere private. "How did he take it?"

"Of course **you** would work out what we were up to," said Harry, then let Lina take over.

"He took it really well," she said, pulling Neville into the hug he'd been unable to get all day. "He thinks it's the most amazing prank he's ever heard of. He also thinks his family library may have some pointers for getting me my own body!"

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... Umbridge is no longer in a position to influence policy via Fudge, but will be responsible for investigating and reporting on failures to enforce policy. (Yay?) Will she be able to get along with the DMLE, or will she go out of her way to antagonise them? Will the Black Family Library have any hints for Lina? What awful sacrifices will they require?

The pieces are in place, the opening moves made. Now the strategies must have time to develop...

**Tuez-le avec le feu:** "Kill it with fire." The House Inverse coat of arms is now the 'cover image' for the story.

**Currency:** One Galleon = £5 is nonsense, no matter whether it's for cheap items (1 newspaper = 1p couldn't cover the salaries of the staff, even assuming no other costs), expensive items (1 insanely important life-long multitool = £35? 1 highly-trained post owl = £50?), or grand prizes ("fortune and glory" = £5000, which is also enough seed money to get premises in a prime shopping area?). If that was the sort of prices in the magical world, any time a Magical needed anything Muggle (food, cloth, other raw materials that they can't possibly produce themselves), they would either have to steal it or bankrupt themselves. (And any half-way rich Muggleborn could buy their entire society out from under them, through a suitably Pure-blooded proxy of course.) So as far as this story is concerned, 1G = £50; this means that Harry's wand cost £1500 (including a surcharge for the ones he blew up), Muon (highly trained post-owl of rare breed) cost £1750, and lunch for nine at Butterworth's set Sirius back £660 or so.

The only problem with this reworking is that 1 butterbeer = 2 Sickles = 60p does work quite well, so I'm changing its price to 6 Knuts (= 60p) a pop.

**But Siriusly...** Just so you know: I won't ever be using that stupid joke. Never mind that it's not canon (never used once, even though there are **at least** four occasions across three books that set it up perfectly), it just doesn't work in British English. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to check how a large selection of Scots, English, Irish and Welsh people (and one German) pronounce the name of the Dog Star, and I can confidently state that in no accent used in these isles does 'Serious' sound anything like 'Sirius'. One starts sear, the other starts sir (and there are other differences). They only sound even vaguely alike if you are speaking with an American accent (any one of many): using it betrays your origins, just as much as serving biscuits and gravy for breakfast, or having the characters cut up all their food into bite-sized chunks before starting to eat it. (Yes, I've seen one author describe a meal to that level of detail; it really stood out as 'completely foreign'.) Those Americans **are** pronouncing the word more correctly, in the sense that it's originally a Greek word that wouldn't have gone through the Great Vowel Shift, but according to our survey 100% of British people pronounce it as if it was assimilated into English before the shift, not imported after. Hence, no dumb pun.


	10. JEALOUS! A Mother's Blessing!

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

I am **so** sorry this took so long to get out. Real life strikes again...

Once again, thanks to everyone who is following, has favourited, or has reviewed this story.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathy.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**JEALOUS! A Mother's Blessing!**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

In the weeks following the trial, Harry and his nakama settled back into the routine of school life. He would have liked to spend more time with Sirius, but Dumbledore point-blank refused to let Harry leave Hogwarts' grounds, even at the weekends, and was still 'thinking about' allowing Sirius to come to the school. So for the moment they had to make do with letters, and the occasional short, clandestine visit courtesy of Mandy.

Harry continued his efforts to make connections between his friends and the pupils outside Gryffindor, with some success. Daphne (whom they still called 'Miss Greengrass', with elaborate formality) was happy to occasionally pass the time of day with them, while Blaise and Tracey, with the adaptability of **true** Slytherins, would get together with them often. They also got on good terms with Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and Justin Finch-Fletchley of Hufflepuff, and Michael Corner and Sue Li of Ravenclaw. This led to a multi-house group of five to ten pupils (depending on timetables) regularly getting together to study, play games, and chat; and their example was beginning to be taken up by others in the lower years. There was, however, some resistance to this mingling among certain members of the staff; and when Harry and Hermione approached McGonagall with the idea of setting up a cross-house lounge for the first years...

"I'm sorry Mister Potter, but the Headmaster has denied your request." McGonagall did look sincerely apologetic. Harry and Hermione's plan involved opening up one of the many unused classrooms, and of course had to be approved by the staff. McGonagall had thought it was a good idea, but apparently Dumbledore disagreed.

"Did he give any reasons?" asked Harry. "I mean, if we could come up with a better plan, he might let us go ahead."

"I'm afraid not," said McGonagall. "He did say something about not wanting to disturb the House Elves unnecessarily, but I can't see how they would be put out."

"I have a theory," said Hermione. "If I could speak plainly?" McGonagall nodded. "There's a comic — a story told in pictures — that my father has been reading the last few years, and he explained some of the concepts in it to me. Apparently there's a particular kind of boss who can't approve of any idea or new suggestion without at least changing some aspect of it. It doesn't matter how well thought out the idea is, or how well it would work; they don't feel they're 'doing their job' if they don't make some sort of change — even one that doesn't make sense, or is actually a bad idea. And often that sort of person will deny an idea simply because they didn't think of it." She paused to gain a little courage, then went on, "He described it as 'marking their territory'. Do you think that might apply to the Headmaster?"

McGonagall reflexively started to deny the possibility, then caught herself and paused. "Perhaps... it would explain a lot, if that was the case." She thought back to some recent events — particularly his refusal to allow Harry time to visit Sirius — and hoped that it was nothing more than that.

Harry sighed. "I was hoping you were exaggerating when you said we wouldn't be allowed to socialise outside our Houses, but it looks like the Headmaster at least wants it to be that way."

"What do you mean?" asked McGonagall. "I don't recall saying that."

"Before the Sorting, when you explained how the houses work," said Hermione, "you said something like 'your house is your family, you will sleep there, study there, and spend all your free time there'. It may not be what you meant, but it appears that's what the Headmaster wants."

McGonagall looked a bit upset at that, and was about to respond, when Harry chimed in. "And Blaise was telling us that Professor Snape has been very discouraging about them mingling with anyone outside Slytherin. He's worried that they may be actually punished for it soon."

"I will look into that," said McGonagall firmly. "House solidarity is important, but it should not come at the exclusion of any contact with others. As for a place where you can socialise... leave that with me. I will speak to the Headmaster again, and see what can be done."

Lina stirred in Harry's mind as they left: she had her own ideas on how to encourage Snape to behave.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

At other times the four would find a secluded spot away from the castle and try out new spells, occasionally with the Twins for company. After a few weeks, they all managed to produce faint streamers of Patronus mist, but the shield still eluded them. Harry and Lina's attempts at the high-powered Spirit spells were more successful, though without a live target they couldn't be sure. Lina also tried to impart the skill of Sorcery to the others, using the simple Lighting and Aero Bomb spells as examples. Hermione had managed to power Lighting with her own magic, but hadn't got the knack of channelling yet. Neville had **almost** got it to work, but couldn't quite get the cascade of external magic to start.

Lina's quest to develop a multi-target version of her Illusion spell wasn't going well. She eventually managed to produce an image in two of the others' minds, but it required so much concentration that she couldn't even walk without disrupting it.

"You might as well give up," said Ron one day. He had abandoned all attempts to learn Lina's style of magic after the first day of failure. "Can't you just blow the stupid dog up or something?"

"I'd rather not," said Lina, once the echoes of Hermione's outraged reaction had died out. "It's not exactly fair on the poor thing, and it'd mean I couldn't have more than the one try."

"What about those Elmekia spells?" asked Neville. "You said they could knock people out without hurting them."

"The Lance can," said Lina, "but the Flame is more likely to kill you outright. And while something that big will need a pretty hefty thump to put it down, I don't want to risk killing it that way either."

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"It lacks subtlety—" Lina paused, then said to the air, "And you can just **shut up**, Potter!" Her grin took the sting out of her words.

"What's he saying," asked Neville.

"I still can't get real words from him often," said Lina, "but he's **laughing** a lot, and the impression I get is something like 'do you even know what that word means'." She giggled, then went on, "He has a point. If it weren't for the need to keep things quiet and look after Harry's interests, I'd probably just get past the daft mutt by blowing the side of the castle open." Hermione looked appropriately shocked.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

They also met up with Hagrid a few times, to hear his stories about their parents (or favourite red-headed role-model, in Hermione's case). At first they wondered why Hagrid never invited them into his cabin, but after a couple of enjoyable story-telling hikes around the loch, they accepted the situation as normal.

Hagrid turned out to have a wealth of trivia about the castle and its surroundings, as well as many stories about former pupils. He tried to keep the children entertained with interesting facts and light, humorous tales, but their enquiring minds often led him back to darker topics: the last war, and the sacrifices their elders had made.

"It'll be ten years this 'allowe'en," noted Hagrid one day. "Terrible times they were; you couldn't wake in the mornin' without worryin' about who'd disappeared overnigh'. But then our 'Arry—" and he clapped the unsuspecting boy on the shoulder, nearly knocking him to the ground— "'e up an' does in You-Know-'oo. 'Tweren't the end of it, but that broke the back of it."

"That's the thing Hagrid," said Harry, recovering from his near-crushing. "I didn't do anything. I know everyone thinks I saved them — I even had some people come up to me in the street and thank me, long before I'd heard of the magical world — but I really didn't. Whatever stopped him, it was something my Mum did, not me."

"Really?" said Hagrid. Harry had told him about his Dementor-induced revelations previously, but the grounds-keeper often needed time to digest information that contradicted his existing concepts. "It does make more sense, at tha'."

"It's a pity your mum doesn't get the credit she deserves," said Neville sadly.

"Maybe..." said Hermione. "Hagrid, like you said it's going to be the tenth anniversary of that night soon. Do you think the Headmaster is going to make a big deal of it?"

"'E might, at tha'," rumbled Hagrid. "Sort of thing 'e'd do, now you mention it. Maybe a' the feast or somethin'?"

"In that case," said Hermione, turning to Harry, "why don't you say something to set people straight?"

Harry's face twisted as he thought about putting himself forward like that.

"She's got a point mate," said Ron. "Let Dumbledore say his piece, then once he's finished..."

They calmed Harry's misgivings, and between them worked out a plan of action for the feast.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Of course they also had their formal lessons. Telescopes were peered through late at night, though more often than not the weather required that charts were examined in the shelter of a classroom. The various wand movements used when casting were listed, discussed, and practised. Common magical plants were described and cared for. The rules governing transformations were delineated and memorised. Potions were inexpertly brewed to mutters of "dunderhead" and "incompetent". The first glimpses into the Dark were disentangled from a stream of stutters, stammers, and (for Harry anyway) the occasional sharp stab of pain. And, of course, there was the ever-popular 'Nap Time with Cuthbert Binns'.

The remainder of their broom-riding lessons went without any hitch, thanks to Lina's donation. By the end of the short series of classes, the combined Gryffindor and Slytherin class were all at least capable of staying aloft and performing simple manoeuvres. They spent the last two lessons flying simple slalom courses and playing tag or catch, depending on their skills. On the final day Madam Hooch set up an obstacle course, and the three best riders from each house, led by Harry and Draco, flew a relay race through it. Harry was outstanding of course, getting the fastest time for his own leg, beating Draco by a whole two seconds. Ron and Lavender Brown did very well, but they couldn't quite match Miss Greengrass' fluid grace, nor Millicent Bulstrode's sheer power, and Slytherin took the day (and the deluxe box of chocolate frogs).

Draco's trademark sneer began to creep into place as he faced Harry and his team. The Gryffindors said their congratulations (genuine, in Harry's case at least), then just as Draco was about to let loose with a snarky remark, Harry cocked his head and gave a slight 'come on then' gesture.

Draco paused for a moment, drew a deep breath, then: "HAA-haha-haha-haa!" The Slytherins stared at him.

Harry gave a curt nod. "Much better. Still not there yet, but you're starting to get the idea."

Draco had to stifle a sudden grin of satisfaction at his accomplishment.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

By Hallowe'en itself, very little had changed in everyone's routine. The extended circle of friends still lacked a place they could meet in comfort, but the Slytherin component hadn't been explicitly forbidden from associating with them either: whatever Professor McGonagall had said to Professor Snape was certainly effective. The study groups were a great success — so much so that Professor Flitwick fell off his chair in delight when more than half the Charms class successfully levitated their feathers on the first try. There were no harsh words or hurt feelings, and everyone had a productive day, topped off with a most enjoyable feast.

After dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood. Holding up his hands for silence, he began in a most serious voice, "On this day, ten years ago, our world was on the brink of disaster. I will not dwell on the details, but you all know how badly things were going for the peaceful inhabitants of Magical Britain. Then, by some miracle, the dark wizard who had our world by its throat was vanquished: sent into the darkness by a small child. I believe I speak for all of us when I raise my glass in thanks to Harry Potter."

As the hall erupted in applause, Harry reddened and began to hide his head in embarrassment; but then he caught sight of the sneer on Draco's face and straightened up. Glancing up at the staff table, he saw most of them nodding in approval, but Snape's face was strangely blank.

The pupils began a chant of "Speech! Speech!", led by the Weasley twins. Harry felt a wave of encouragement from Lina, then glanced round his friends, receiving nods of support from them. He stood, then climbed onto his bench and raised his hands, mimicking Dumbledore's call for quiet.

"Thank you," he began, as the room settled down. "But I must correct our Headmaster. I did not vanquish Voldemort." He waited for the gasps to subside, then went on, "No-one knows why he came to our house that night." (Behind his eyes Lina watched Snape twitch ever so slightly, as if stifling a reaction. ‹_That's worth looking into...›_ She went back to bolstering Harry's confidence with all the force of her personality.) "Until recently, no-one knew what happened once he arrived. But the Dementors which were posted around the school brought out the memories I had locked away, allowing me to see once again the events of that night."

Harry paused, allowing his statement time to sink in. He looked around the packed house tables, at the eager faces gazing at him. The realisation that they were hanging on his words sunk in, and a twinge of panic rose... but was quickly suppressed from within, before he could lose his momentum. ‹_Thanks Lina.›_

"When Voldemort came for us, James Potter stood against him. He fought, valiantly trying to hold him off long enough for his wife and child to escape. We couldn't get away, but my father's sacrifice bought enough time for my mother to put in place a protection so strong, that even though she was mercilessly cut down, her shield reflected back the Killing Curse that should have taken my life." Harry knew that his story wasn't strictly accurate, but he still didn't understand why Voldemort offered to let his mother live. That detail might be important some day. "That reflected curse sent the so-called Dark Lord shrieking from his body and into the darkness." He paused again, then lifted his goblet of pumpkin juice. "So yes, let us all give thanks today. But let's thank the heroes who truly vanquished the evil. Here's to James and Lily Potter!" He drained his goblet as the hall filled with cheers again, then sat down with his friends.

"That was **wicked**!" said Ron.

"Yes, well done," added Hermione, throwing an arm around him. Harry dropped his head and leaned into her. "Thanks guys. If you don't mind, I'm going to have a panic attack now." He looked around at his friends, and gave them all a wan smile. Glancing at the staff table again, he saw Dumbledore wasn't entirely pleased with his little speech: his expression was genial enough, but the twinkle was absent from his eyes. He also noticed Snape staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

-=o=-

"'E's a right 'un, that 'Arry," rumbled Hagrid approvingly.

"He t-truly is," agreed Quirrell, then lowered his voice a little. "H-how's your other f-friend getting on?"

"'E's grand, Perfesser Quirrell." Hagrid leaned over to murmur in Quirrell's ear. "Flame-freezing charms are 'olding up a treat, but I wouldn't say no to you 'avin' a look at the space expansion. I reckon 'e's gettin' a bit cramped again."

"Of c-course," said Quirrell. "I'll l-look in on S-sunday, if you l-like."

‹_Simpleton,›_ sneered the voice in the back of Quirrell's head as the half-giant nodded in thanks. ‹_I must congratulate you, my servant. Luring a troll into the school would have caused chaos, but not much of a diversion. A dragon appearing as everyone comes out to catch the Yuletide train, on the other hand...›_ The evil mental laugh that followed wasn't the kind that Lina was looking for, but she'd have given it at least eight out of ten for style.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once the well-stuffed pupils were all safely in bed, Lina rose silently and made her way down to the main staircase — for the last time, she had decided. Thanks to her illusion's silent disapprobation, Snape had become an almost acceptable teacher, and was no longer blatantly picking on anyone or showing gross favour to his own house. The remainder of his journey could be made without the help of the phantom Lily.

Snape appeared in due time, cautious as always. Lina floated her illusion in from the corner of his eye, and moved it in to face him. She had it raise one hand, intending to give a sad wave and slowly vanish— but nearly fell from her perch in surprise as the ghostly figure held its hand out instead, floating forward until it gently cupped Snape's cheek.

"You've come a long way, Sev," said the projection. "I know it's been hard, but you've managed to overcome all the bitterness you built up over the years."

"Lily—" choked Snape. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know the prophecy was about you." Lina pricked up her ears at that. "I tried to save you—"

"I know, Sev. And I know that you've sworn to keep Harry from harm. You've very nearly gone back to the person I was proud to call friend."

"Nearly? What else must I do?" He sounded desperate.

"Rein in the worst of your House. You have the power to do it now; you don't have to toe the line of the strongest any more."

Snape dropped his head. "If only that were true. Dumbledore insists I be lenient with them, to 'guide them back to the light'. He believes that punishing them will only turn them away."

"Nonsense," scoffed Lily. "Dumbledore is all good intentions and bad mistakes. His desperate need to control everything may well be the downfall of everything he loves. I know you can stand up to him, Sev."

Snape drew himself up a little. "I will do what I can. I've already rejected his plan of keeping my Snakes isolated from the other pupils."

"And some of them have already moved much closer to the light because of it. Even spoiled little Draco will turn, if Harry's 'friendly rivals' plan bears fruit."

Snape rolled his eyes at the reference. "Is there anything else I should do?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to smile occasionally," said Lily with a grin. "I know, I know; you've invested too much in your 'sarcastic Professor' persona to let it go completely, and to be honest it's all to the good now you've stopped blatantly picking on some of the kids. But you **can** relax around the other members of staff, you know."

"Those that aren't complete dunderheads would collapse in shock," muttered Snape.

"I don't mean change all at once!" laughed Lily. "But to be serious: your House has been poisoned by mis-sorting over the years. Certain personalities that would be safest spread amongst all the houses have been concentrated into Slytherin. Dumbledore may not know about it, but if he did he would almost certainly want to keep it that way. Forget all the old stories, and try to instil Slytherin's true values into your charges."

"What true values?" asked Snape, confused.

"Ask Harry about the Aspects of Water some time," said Lily. "It would help both of you to discuss it, and his insight may surprise you." Reluctantly, Snape nodded. "Now, I'm afraid I must go. You won't see me again — not for some years anyway, I hope! — but when you meet Harry's new guardian, know that you can trust her as you did me." She floated forward and laid a spectral kiss on Snape's forehead. "Goodbye, my friend."

"Goodbye Lily," whispered Snape. He watched as her translucent form glowed white, then turned into a streak of light that shot away to the heavens. Struggling to not be overcome by emotion, he lowered his head and slowly made his way to the dungeons.

Far above, Lina gaped in awe as Lily's glowing spectral form coalesced in front of her.

"Thank you Lina, for providing a conduit for me to talk to Severus," said Lily. "And thank you again, for taking up my responsibilities to Harry and Neville. You may not have been what I would have looked for in a guardian, but you have risen to the challenge and have done very well indeed." Lina gulped down a lump in her throat and nodded. "And know this: there will be setbacks, and you may come close to giving up hope, but before too long you will stand beside Harry in your own body."

Lily drew back and began to fade into light. "Tell Harry I love him," she whispered as she vanished.

It was a very pensive Lina that returned to Harry's dorm that night.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry had never been more frustrated with his inability to carry on a conversation with Lina than he was that first morning of November. He had long since got into the habit of sleeping through her nocturnal excursions, as they often ran very late and usually involved a lot of (to him) boring reading, so the first he knew of Lina's encounter with his mother was when he checked for any overnight notes from her.

To be fair, Lina had done an exceptional job of recording everything she saw, heard, and thought during the encounter, but even so Harry was fair exploding with questions.

"Hermione!" he shouted as soon as she appeared in the common room.

"Harry? You're down early," she replied.

"I need your brain," said Harry.

"I beg your pardon?" Hermione chuckled.

Harry waved his hands around vaguely. "You're always the one who comes up with the good questions. I need questions asked. Let's go find somewhere private."

"Well, thanks for the compliment Harry, but shouldn't we be going to breakfast?"

"This is too important!" said Harry, almost shouting in frustration. Hermione flinched slightly, and he went on more quietly, "Sorry, but it really is. Look, we could go grab some bacon sandwiches or something."

"What's going on?" asked Neville, who had just come down with Ron.

"Harry has..." Hermione thought for a moment, eyeing Harry's desperate expression, then went on, "well, I'm not sure, but could you do us a favour Neville?"

"Sure," he replied.

"We're going down to the Charms corridor for a bit of privacy; can you make up some sandwiches and bring them to us?" She turned to Harry. "Is this something that Neville and Ron can help with?"

"I don't know..." said Harry, wringing his hands in frustration. "I don't mind if they come with us though."

"Skip breakfast? How important is it?" said Ron.

"Really important to me, but don't let me keep you from your food," said Harry, rather sarcastically.

"Harry," warned Hermione when she saw Ron's face redden.

Harry sighed, hanging his head. "Sorry mate. It's just— this is **really** important to me, and I want to share with my friends." He glanced around the room; they were starting to draw something of an audience. "But it's a bit private too... family business, if you know what I mean?"

"Ah," said Neville, catching on. "Ron, why don't you help me put together some food, and we'll join them down there?"

Ron dithered for a moment, then gave in. "All right, I'll be there."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Once down in an empty Charms classroom, Hermione turned to Harry. "Right. Maybe you should sit down."

"Can't," said Harry, almost bouncing on the spot.

Hermione cocked her head. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Last night— well, Lina... Look, read this, okay?" He thrust Lina's note at her.

"Snape... illusion... lost control..." Hermione mumbled as she scanned the note. "Wow," she said, once she was finished. "This is... wow, Harry. This is a really major breakthrough in— but that's not what you want me here for. You're right, I have a **lot** of questions for Lina, but I'm not sure what you would want me to ask that she hasn't already written here." She sighed. "I mean, I get that this is really important to you — it's your **mum** — but Lina's covered everything."

"There has to be **something**!" said Harry in frustration. "Even just a little?"

Hermione looked at him for a moment, then said slowly, "Harry, are you **jealous**?"

"What? No! Well—" spluttered Harry.

"I mean, you don't seem to mind that Neville gets hugs from Lina more than you can, but it must bother you. And now Lina gets to meet your mum, sort of at least, and you—"

"I slept right through it!" wailed Harry, almost in tears. "She was **right there**, and I didn't wake up!"

Hermione dithered for a moment — this really wasn't her thing — then said, "Oh, come here," and pulled Harry into a hug. He stood stiffly for a moment, then collapsed against her, finally letting the tears loose.

Harry was still clinging to Hermione when the other two arrived, laden with plates of bacon, sausage and bread. Hermione gave them a desperate 'help me!' look over Harry's shoulder.

Neville rose to the occasion and, with Hermione's help, transferred his godbrother's sobbing form to him.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

With the reassurance of his friends, and a lot of internal support from Lina (once she woke up), Harry eventually pulled himself together. Once he had delivered a burst of apologies to the others for his behaviour (especially to Lina, for feeling jealous), the remainder of the day went as well as any Friday. By dinner time he had largely got over his upset, and the last vestiges of it were erased when, towards the end of the meal, Professor McGonagall came over to him.

"I have some good news for you, Mister Potter. The Headmaster has decided to allow your godfather to attend the Quidditch match tomorrow."

Harry looked stunned for a moment, then smiled brightly. "That's **brilliant**," he said. "When will he be arriving?"

"Shortly after breakfast," said McGonagall. "He will need to leave before dinner, but will be able to spend the whole day with you."

"Fantastic," said Harry, still grinning. "Thank the Headmaster for me, please?"

"I will be sure to," said McGonagall, and left them to finish their meal.

"I wonder why he changed his mind," murmured Hermione.

"No idea," said Neville. "But we'll need to be careful to act like we haven't seen him in weeks."

"No problem there," said Hermione, nodding at Harry, who was still grinning like an idiot.

"Huh?" he said.

"I take you're happy to be seeing Sirius, then?" said Neville with a grin.

"It's the first time we'll be able to be with him in public," said Harry. "And maybe the Headmaster's starting to lighten up, as well..."

"Yeah..." said Ron, distractedly picking at the remains of his dinner.

"What's up, Ron?" said Hermione. "You look uncharacteristically thoughtful."

Ron gave her a quick glare, then said, "I dunno... it's just a bit odd. All month old Dumbledore wouldn't let you meet with Sirius in private, and now he's letting him come to the Quidditch match. Family **never** get to come."

Harry's eyes immediately snapped to the Headmaster's ostentatious throne, but he had already left the hall. "What's he up to..."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The day of the first Quidditch match of the season was clear, with a crisp coldness just on the mild side of frosty. Even though Harry and his nakama had seen Sirius just the weekend before, they didn't have to feign excitement at his first official visit: they were down in the Great Hall as early as possible, and ate their breakfast as quickly as they were comfortable with (Hermione taking about three times as long as Ron, who sat impatiently while she finished). Of course, this just meant that they spent the best part of an hour hovering restlessly about the main doors waiting for Sirius to actually arrive.

Then the thin (but no longer emaciated) figure of Lord Black appeared around the bend of the drive, and as he ran forward to greet him Harry discovered he didn't need to fake his enthusiasm at all.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"Well... that was..." said Harry, as the group walked with the dispersing crowd after the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch match.

"Terrifying?" suggested Neville. "I mean, I've got the hang of flying, but the thought of being up there in that mess... no ta."

"Frustrating," said Ron firmly. "Bloody Snakes can't play for toffee, so they cheat all the time, and Hooch lets them away with it." Hermione gave him a stern look for his language.

"Hilarious?" said Sirius. "The interaction between Minnie and your commentator, I mean." The others grinned and nodded their agreement; Lee had been in fine flow.

"How about 'interminable'?" supplied Hermione. "Although I suppose it's not strictly accurate; the match **did** end, even if it took eight hours."

"I was going for something between 'confusing' and 'stupid'," Harry finally said. "Who came up with such a daft game?"

"**WOT**?!" said Ron, offended to his very core. "It's the best game **ever**!"

"Oh sure, the whole passing-and-scoring bit is absolutely amazing," said Harry in a conciliatory tone, "and the Twins' position makes sense, given what you can do with magic, but that thing with the Snitch? If the two Seekers hadn't been utter pants, the game would have been over long ago, and the team that caught it would have won, no matter how well the Chasers had done."

"It was added almost by **accident** in the late twelve-hundreds," said Hermione with a sniff. "Originally they used small birds."

Ron's jaw dropped as he stared at her. "How did you—"

"Ron, this is Hermione," said Neville, making the gestures associated with a formal Society introduction. "She reads stuff."

"But how did such a ridiculous idea stick?" said Harry.

"Tradition," said Sirius with a grin. "Wizards are suckers for it."

"That explains why we still have it," Harry replied, "not why it caught on in the first place."

"No-one has ever explained it really," said Hermione. "My own theory is that it resonates with magical society as an allegory for the unique way internecine conflict is resolved."

Ignoring Ron's "Huh?" of incomprehension, the others gestured for her to continue.

"Well," said Hermione, shifting into lecture mode, "normally conflict in the Wizarding world is between two ideologies — often Light and Dark, but other divisions occur as well. However, unlike in the Mundane world, each side is always championed by a powerful individual, whose ability far outstrips the normal magical by a considerable factor. For example, the Headmaster and Gellert Grindelwald. The conflict is only resolved once one of those champions defeats the other, and which one wins that combat has a large influence on the overall outcome. However, if the conflict is drawn out long enough, the damage caused by their followers can be such that the winner of the final duel has no support left, leaving his (or her) ideology the loser even so." She indicated the end of her presentation with a short bow.

"Like today," said Sirius. "Even though that Higgs fellow caught the Snitch in the end, the Flying Foxes had racked up enough goals to win the day."

"See?" said Ron. "It **does** make sense!" His face fell. "We definitely need a better champion though."

Harry nodded. "McLaggen can fly, but he's too busy talking to the others to be any use."

"Fred-or-George was saying he keeps trying to tell everyone what to do," Neville added. "It really gets Wood's goat, apparently."

"Didn't Hooch say you should have a go next year?" said Ron to Harry. "You'd be way better than that git. And trust me, playing Seeker is usually a lot more interesting than those two made it look."

"Plus, it'd be the best position for you," said Neville with a slight smirk. "Being the Boy-Who-Lived and all."

"Shut it," growled Harry with a smile. "Maybe I will. I certainly couldn't do any worse than McLaggen."

"I think the Twins had something planned in case his performance didn't match his boasts," said Hermione with a slight smirk.

"I wish I could stick around to see it," said Sirius. "Unfortunately Dumbledore insisted I leave before dinner, so I made plans for the evening."

"Hot date?" asked Harry.

Sirius barked a laugh. "Well, I **am** going to be spending time with a **most** impressive lady..." He laughed again when the four rounded on him with wide eyes. "Not like that though. Mandy's accompanying me to my family home to see if we can get it cleaned up in time for Christmas. House Black can't impose on the charity of House Inverse forever. And I'll need somewhere suitable for my godson and his friends to stay, if they would care to visit for a few days over the holidays?" He looked around the four hopefully.

"Of course!" said Harry, giving Sirius a hug. The others gave their own agreement.

"If the clean-up goes well, I'd like to host a small gathering between Christmas and New Year," Sirius went on. "To mark my return to society, you know. Get me a list of everyone you'd like to come, and I'll send out formal invitations in a fortnight or so. Families included, of course."

"Even my mum and dad?" asked Hermione.

"I don't see why not," said Sirius. "I'll make sure it's safe for them. My family would have had a fit at the idea of Muggles entering the ancestral home, but I've never bothered about that nonsense. They're your parents, so they're welcome."

The others thanked Sirius for the invitations, then waved him goodbye as he set off down the drive again.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

The party in the Gryffindor common room was riotous, but the Twins' revenge on McLaggen was the highlight of the evening: a subtle variation of the Confundus charm that caused him to use malapropisms whenever he used a didactic or condescending tone (which was almost all of the time). It frustrated him so much that they ended up leaving it on for the following week.

And so the routine of school life went on, much as before. Harry's extended group of friends had taken to meeting in the less-travelled corridors of the castle's upper floors, spreading blankets and cushions on the floor for comfort. They made a game of never meeting in the same place twice, to avoid issues with the Headmaster.

Classes, too, went on. Only Potions was different. There were still the mutters of "dunderhead" and "incompetent", but they were becoming spread more evenly and usually were only elicited with cause. Points awards and deductions also became more equitable, and soon some actual teaching occurred: the various methods of preparing potions ingredients and stirring were demonstrated in detail, and the reasons for including specific ingredients at specific times were explained. And the Professor, who had stopped glaring at Harry after the first few weeks in favour of avoiding looking at him at all, was now seen to occasionally let his glance linger on him, an inscrutable expression on his face.

Sirius' clandestine visits became much rarer, as he threw himself into the work of repairing his family home. Mandy wrote that he had taken Lina's advice, and given her a large budget and a wide remit to redecorate the place. She was enjoying herself immensely, and apparently work was progressing well, as the last week of November saw the arrival of invitations for Harry's extended group of friends, and some of the staff, to Sirius' 'Coming Back' party.

Lina still walked the corridors of the school at night, but avoided Snape completely, keeping mainly to the library. She was beginning to lose hope of finding any reasonable solution to her problems there — no ways of getting past Fluffy without risking killing him, and only one potential solution to her lack of a body. Unfortunately the latter involved the murder of a baby to form a homunculus, and while 'bloodthirsty' was a term that could fairly be applied to her in some circumstances, Lina would never countenance harming a child. Sirius had promised her access to the Black family library, but had warned her that any solutions there would likely be just as Dark.

Eventually the end of term came around, and the pupils gathered at the main entrance to head for the station.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

"Try not to burn the school down or anything," said Harry, giving the Twins manly claps on the shoulder. "And keep Ron company."

"We'll do"  
>"our best,"<br>"Harry."  
>"See you"<br>"at Sirius'"  
>"party!"<p>

"Try and get your homework done **before** the party," said Hermione to Ron, who just rolled his eyes and grumbled in response.

"At least you won't be lonely," said Neville, who had been saying goodbye to Blaise and Su Li. "I'll be stuck in that giant mausoleum with only Gran for company most of the time..."

"Your gran's all right," said Ron, giving Neville a bump on the shoulder.

"**Boys**," said Hermione. "Can't you say goodbye properly?" She grabbed Ron by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Not like that we can't," said Harry, then squeaked as the Twins enveloped him, one from each side. "Gerroff!"

"The carriages are coming!" announced Hannah. "Bye Blaise, bye Su! Bye Ron!"

Harry looked around to see a procession of carriages coming up the drive, each pulled by a skeletal, leathery-winged horselike creature.

"Creepy," he commented.

"It's probably just an animation charm of some kind," said Hermione.

"Why make them look so weird then?" said Harry.

"They're just carriages," said Neville.

"Well, maybe those things are normal in the magical world, but I've never seen anything like it."

"Oh come on Harry," said Hermione. "They're rather outdated, but surely you've seen a carriage before? Normally they'd have a horse between the limbers, but making them move on their own is simple enough magic."

"Simple for you, maybe," muttered Ron, as Harry looked at them in confusion.

"Hang on, are you saying you can't see the things pulling them?"

"What things?" asked Ron.

Harry sighed. "They look like horse skeletons covered in scaly black leather, with big bat wings." He cocked his head, examining the lead one. "They look frightened."

"I can't see anything," said Neville, "but I think I know what it is you're seeing."

Harry nodded absently. "Whatever they are, they really don't look happy." The crowd gasped as the lead carriage stopped and jerked backwards, with its limbers swinging up. Harry — and those others 'privileged' to have witnessed Death — saw the Thestral in its traces shy up and half-extend its wings, obviously in panic. Its fear quickly infected the rest of the herd, and they began to bolt, dragging their carriages across the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione looked back along their line of flight, but saw nothing out of the ordinary — just Hagrid's hut. "But there's nothing— **LOOK**!"

The others turned, just in time to see the ramshackle building fall apart as a series of space expansion spells suffered a cascade failure, forcibly depositing twenty metres of rather annoyed Norwegian Ridgeback onto the lawn.

Screams broke out among the pupils. They were mostly spread out along the drive in anticipation of the carriages, putting the dragon closer to the castle gates than they were. En masse they turned and ran after the Thestrals, towards the forest. The majority of the staff had turned out to see their pupils off; though closer to the castle, they ran off after their charges at the Headmaster's command. Power flowed from Albus Dumbledore as he turned to face the dragon.

Hagrid had been too busy getting the Thestrals ready to feed his dragon that morning. Norberta was hungry, and confused by all the screaming and running around after the calm of the hut. She focussed on the Headmaster as the source of all her problems, and roared at him. When he failed to back down, she inhaled again, then blew a gout of flame towards him. Dumbledore leapt back out of range.

Harry and his friends had hung back beside the castle while bidding Ron and the others farewell. They were able to get inside without difficulty, but Harry dodged aside, stepping into the secluded corner of the gatehouse.

"What are you doing?" Harry turned at Hermione's voice, to see that she, Neville, and Ron had followed him.

"Lina wants to handle this," said Harry confidently. "Cover for me, please?"

Ron looked sceptical, but nodded jerkily and turned to join the others. Hermione and Neville stood their ground and gave him pleading looks.

"We'll be fine," said Harry, then swapped with Lina. "You can trust me, I've done this plenty of times."

"In a **book**," said Hermione, nearly in tears.

"It was real enough for me," said Lina, grinning.

"Take care, Big Sis," said Neville, drops spilling from his own eyes.

"Hey, no problem," said Lina, and struck a victorious pose, one fist in the air. "I'm **awesome**." She bowed to them, then went on, "You get back inside though, just in case. First off though: a **proper** mist spell. _Swightflange_!" Fog sprang up around Lina, spreading outwards. She poured power into the spell, sending more and more vapour out along the line of the drive, shielding the fleeing students and staff from the dragon. Once the cover was thick enough, Lina cut off the spell, let her aura flood out, and strode forward into the mist.

-=o=-

Let us take a moment out of the flow of narrative, to discuss those wonderful creatures known as 'dragons'. In every universe graced by their presence, all dragons — whether naturally evolved, genetically engineered, or called forth by magic and imagination; whether intelligent or animalistic — have a connection to the great Draconic Overmind. From Pern to the Discworld, from Krynn to the many variants of Earth, all dragons share the same dreams. And through those dreams stride a handful of entities.

Each individual dragon's reactions to one of these entities depends on their character and that of the dragon itself: some are viewed with camaraderie, some with reverence, some with hatred. Most are of no consequence to our story. But there is one who is known to all dragons, from the most brutish Horntail to fabled Ruth, from the meanest swamp dragon to great Bahamut himself. That one elicits only one emotion in any dragon not of impeccable character.

**Fear.**

Norberta was, by any standards, a very young dragon, and was already very upset by the antics of those tiny creatures. Then the mist came down, and out of it stalked a figure pulled from her deepest nightmares.

**_The Dragon Spooker._**

-=o=-

With her hair and cloak swirling in her flaring aura, Lina strode through the fog towards the hazy bulk of the dragon. The creature recoiled, bellowing at her, then inhaled. "_Balus Wall_!" shouted Lina, just as the dragon blew a massive gout of flame at her. The stream of fire splashed against her shield, spraying off in all directions.

Once the flamed died down, Lina stalked forward again, glaring right into the dragon's eyes. It reared back, inhaling again, but something about Lina's stare forced it to back down, letting the breath out with a whimper as it laid its head on the ground in front of her.

Lina went right up to it and smacked it on the nose. "Bad dragon!" she said sternly as it cringed further down, covering its head with its wings. "Now, are you going to fly off and find others of your kind, or do I have to get..." With a twist of her hand, Lina produced a ball of concentrated magic, and bounced it up and down in her palm a couple of times. "...angry?"

Norberta shook her head vigorously, then rose up above Lina. With a mighty leap she took to the air, the first flap of her wings shredding the fog like tissue. Steadying herself against the blast, Lina watched as the dragon gained height, circled once, then headed off towards the north-east.

A quick scramble back up the hill, a quicker change, and Harry slid into the entrance hall behind Neville. "Told you we'd be fine."

Neville turned, relief warring with concern on his face. "Thank goodness. But we have another problem..."

Ron came over, pulling Fred and George with him. "When that bloomin' monster popped out of Hagrid's hut, I thought to myself, 'that would be an excellent diversion'. So I got the Twins to watch the map..."

"Quirrell headed"  
>"straight for the"<br>"Forbidden Corridor"  
>"on the third floor."<br>"Snape followed him"  
>"caught up with him"<br>"at the door, but"  
>"Snape hasn't moved"<br>"since then."  
>"Quirrell's gone into"<br>"a bit of the castle"  
>"we've never seen before."<p>

Harry sucked in a breath. "He's going after the Stone."

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... a cliffhanger! Also, the Dragon Spooker shows her true power.

(Fear not: the next chapter will be up within 24 hours. I was so badly blocked writing this one, I almost had the next completed at the same time.)

It's never stated in canon whether or not they have more than one flying lesson. I seriously doubt that they only had one.

For an alternative view of Quidditch, see Silently Watches' Deal with a Devil chapter 18, which came out as I was writing my section. (Actually, you should read all Silently Watches' stuff, due to it being awesome.)

Hermione's dad reads Dilbert.


	11. KA-CHING! To the Victor, the Spoils?

Disclaimer: Not the Rowling, not the Kanzaka.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

NOTES:

I said it wouldn't be long...

Once again, thanks to everyone who is following, has favourited, or has reviewed this story.

"Hello." : voice.  
>"<em>Hello."<em> : voice over phone, radio, TV... or telepathy.  
>‹<em>Hello.›<em> : thought.  
><em>Hello.<em> : spellcasting, or other invocations of power.

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

**POTTER, INVERTED**

_**KA-CHING! To the Victor, the Spoils?**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Harry looked around at the others present. Those in the know: Neville, Hermione, Ron, and the Twins. Of his other friends: Blaise, Su Li, Hannah and Susan. There had been some other pupils hanging around the entrance hall, but they had all run for it when they saw the dragon. All right...

"We have to stop him," said Harry, forcefully.

"Who?" asked Hannah, beating Susan and the others to the punch.

"Quirrell," answered Harry. "He's trying to steal... some treasure that Dumbledore hid in the Forbidden Corridor. Snape tried to stop him, but..." He shrugged and shook his head.

"What can we do?" asked Susan.

"Um..." said Harry. "It should be safe to go outside now, so could you four," indicating his non-Lina-aware friends, "go and find some of the senior staff and let them know what's happening?"

"What are **you** going to do?" asked Su Li.

"Try to stop him," said Harry with a shrug.

"Typical Gryffindor," said Hannah. "You didn't even stop to think, did you?"

"I did," said Harry, "but then a little voice yelled at me to get on with it." Those in the know grinned at that, to the others' confusion.

"All right, let's go," said Susan, gesturing to the others. Hannah and Su Li turned to join her, but Blaise hung back.

"Blaise?" said Neville.

"You said Snape was... out of action." The others nodded. "I should check on him."

"All right," said Harry, turning to go.

"How do you know all this?" asked Su Li.

"Ask the Twins," said Harry. "It's their story to tell." Su Li gave Fred and George a suspicious look, shook her head, and joined the other two as they went out.

"Well, if we're going to do this..." said Hermione, starting towards the stairs.

"Actually, Fred and George should wait here," said Ron. "If something goes wrong, or Quirrell tries to get out another way, you can direct reinforcements the right way." The Twins looked at each other for a moment, then nodded.

"You're the strategist,"  
>"little brother."<p>

"Are you three sure you want to come?" said Harry to the others, who just gave him a Look. "Right, sure. Off we go then."

Hermione looked up the stairwell, judging the position of the flights. "It'll take us at least fifteen minutes to get up to the third floor," she said, worried.

"Nah," said Harry. "Gather round. Blaise, I promise I'll explain everything later, but for now, hang on. _Ray Wing_!"

A swirling shell of air formed around the whole group. Pouring power into the spell, Harry caused them to rise quickly up the stairwell, landing gently on the landing outside the Forbidden Corridor.

"Impressive," said Blaise with a smirk. "I'll look forward to a detailed explanation." He glanced down the corridor. "So where's Snape?"

"The door's open," said Harry. "I think he's inside." He broke into a run.

The others followed quickly, and caught up with him at the door. "Good grief," said Neville, spotting the Cerberus.

"It's asleep," said Harry. "Look." He gestured across the room, where a harp was playing a soft melody. "The trapdoor's open, too."

"Professor!" cried Blaise, running to a pile of black fabric lying between the sleeping dog's paws.

"Be careful, Blaise!" whispered Hermione loudly.

"He's alive," said Blaise. "Stunned, I think. Help me pull him out of here."

Neville and Harry joined him, and between the three of them managed to lug the unconscious Potions Master out into the corridor. "I'll stay with him," said Blaise. "You Gryffindors go do what you do best."

"Stuff like running up to giant three-headed dogs?" said Harry with a smirk.

"Shut it," said Blaise with a weak grin. "Go on."

"Take care of him," said Harry, as he and Neville went back into the room.

"We'd better hurry up," said Hermione. "I think the charm on the harp is starting to wear off." Indeed, the music was starting to slow down.

"That's my cue," said Ron, jumping down the trapdoor.

"Ron, you idiot!" said Neville. "There's no telling what's down there!"

"Something soft," Ron replied from far below. "It's a long drop, but it's an easy landing." Shaking his head, Neville dropped down after him, followed quickly by Hermione and Harry. A few seconds of free-fall, then they were halted by something soft and ropey.

"Feels like a plant," said Neville.

"Whatever it is, it's moving," said Ron. "Getting tighter..."

"Ah," said Neville. "Devil's Snare. We'll be fine if we don't struggle."

"Easy for you to say," said Ron, doing his best to relax.

"What else can we do, Neville?" asked Harry.

"Bright lights or fire," said Neville. "Unfortunately, I dropped my wand."

"Give Lighting a go," said Harry. "If that doesn't work, I'll Fireball the bastard."

"Language Harry," said Hermione, then cast, "_Lumos_." The vines retreated from around her, letting her slip the rest of the way to the floor.

Neville relaxed, trying to connect with the magic around him. "Light which burns beyond crimson flame, let thy power gather in my hand! _Lighting_!" As usual, he felt the energy begin to rise within him, but it choked off before it could manifest. "No use," he sighed.

"You'll get it soon enough," said Harry confidently. "Let me try. _Lighting_!" He shifted the balance of the spell from duration to power. For a few seconds the vault was flooded with a near-dazzling flare, and the Devil's Snare recoiled, letting the three boys drop to the floor.

"There's only one way forward," reported Hermione. "It's pretty damp down here; I think we're at least as far down as the dungeons. That was some fall!"

"Yeah," agreed Ron.

"Oh, and here's your wand Neville," said Hermione, handing it over. Neville nodded his thanks.

"Looks like we're going even lower," said Harry as he started down the passageway. "There's a light up ahead though."

"And I can hear something moving," added Ron. "Better be careful..."

"Good Lord, it **must** be dangerous, if **you're** suggesting taking care," said Hermione with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah," said Ron.

"Something flying up there," said Harry as he reached the brightly-lit chamber at the end of the tunnel. "Winged keys?"

"And a pretty heavy door," said Hermione, walking across to it. "_Alohomora_." Nothing happened. "Well, I wasn't expecting much."

Harry came over to join her. "_Unlock_. Nope, didn't think so."

"Look, there's broomsticks over here," said Neville. "Maybe we're supposed to catch the right key?"

"That could take forever," said Ron. "Do we actually care about not breaking stuff here?"

Harry grinned at him. "Not really. Hermione, better stand back, just in case." He turned to the door as Hermione backed off, and planted his hands against it. "_Blast Wave_!" The door shuddered violently, but held firm. "Rats," said Harry. "No such luck."

"Try the wall," said Hermione.

"Good idea," said Harry, moving to place his hands on the wall right beside the door. "_Blast Wave_!" With a loud crack, a section of the wall crumbled, leaving a conveniently-sized passage into the next chamber.

"Very handy," said Neville with a grin. "What's next?"

"Chess board," said Harry, going through to the next room. "Looks like it's your turn, Ron." Grinning, Ron came through and looked over the board.

"We're playing black," he said. "So... ready when you are?" He called the last out so that it echoed through the chamber. Nothing happened.

"Hmm..." said Ron. He went over to the black king, poked it, then jumped back as the nine-foot-tall stone piece turned and looked at him. "Wicked..." he mumbled. "So how do we start?"

The king gestured to the line of court pieces. "Ah," said Ron. "So we're supposed to take over from some of you?" The king nodded.

Hermione wandered along the queen's side pieces. "So which ones should we take?"

"Well..." said Ron. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I can win against whoever set this up—"

"Professor McGonagall," interjected Hermione confidently.

"How can you be sure?" asked Neville.

"An animal from Hagrid, a plant from Professor Sprout, keys and door charmed by Professor Flitwick... I think each of the staff has supplied their own challenge. I doubt anyone carved these pieces, so that would be Transfiguration."

Ron nodded. "Makes sense. I haven't played her yet, but according to the upper years she's pretty good. That settles it: I can probably win, but I can't do it without sacrificing a lot of pieces. You've seen what happens to captured pieces in Wizard chess..." Hermione shuddered, looking green. "So I think I'll use those Slytherin tendencies you lot keep accusing me of, and let Harry deal with this one too."

"If you want," said Harry, pondering the best spell to use.

"Hang on," said Neville. "You said 'challenges', Hermione, not 'defences'."

"Well, think about it," she replied. "Fluffy turned out to be easy to get past, you'd just have to find out he's susceptible to soft music, which, given Hagrid's secret-keeping capabilities, couldn't be **that** hard. A plant that can be handled by any first year who hadn't slept through Herbology, a locked door with the key right in the same room, a barrier that you can **play** your way through... they're not exactly impenetrable, are they?"

"Good point," said Neville. "So what's next? Don't tell me Quirrell put up something to protect the stone he was intending to steal?"

"Why not?" said Harry. "To help keep his cover? Anyway, everyone back into the other room. It's going to get hot in here." They retreated, Lina taking over from Harry as they went.

"Harry hasn't had any practice with this," she commented, turning to face into the chess room. Bowing her head, she raised her arms high, then slowly brought them down to face her palms into the room, building her power to a crescendo as she did. "Infinite earth, mother who nurtures all life, let thy power gather in my hand! _**Vlave Howl!**_"

Searing heat burst from the room as the floor softened and melted into lava. Like wax figures in an oven, the stone chessmen slumped and collapsed into the molten rock. "All right," said Lina. "Next... _Gray Buster_!" The air shimmered and the blazing heat was replaced with biting cold. The molten floor of the room cooled and blackened, forming a solid crust.

"**Wicked!**" said Ron, stepping forwards.

"Hold on!" said Lina. "I'm not quite done yet; it's still really hot in there. Stand together, so I can get all of us with this." Once the three others were clustered around her, Lina drew in her power again, then cast. "_Flare Seal_. All right, that should keep us protected from the heat. Come on!" She turned and walked carefully across the solidified surface, letting Harry take over once she was at the other side.

The other three followed close behind her, but unfortunately Ron stepped on a thin section of the crust. It cracked under his weight, dropping his foot into the still-molten rock below. "Ahh! Bastard!"

Neville quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him free, dragging him to the safety of the exit with Hermione keeping pace beside them. Once there they helped Ron sit down against the wall. Surprisingly, his shoe was only lightly scorched.

"Are you all right," asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Ron. "It feels like I stepped into a bath that was too hot. A bit sore, but it's getting better already."

"That's some spell Lina used," said Hermione. "Your foot should have been burned right off. We'd better have a look at it, even so."

"Thanks for that image," said Ron, leaning over and gingerly untying his shoelace. "Ouch," he said, wincing as he pulled his shoe and sock off, revealing skin that was badly reddened, but not blistered.

"That doesn't look too bad," said Neville. "Madam Pomfrey'll be able to fix it up in no time."

"You're not leaving me behind," said Ron fiercely.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Harry with a grin. "We might need your Slytherin tendencies again."

Neville nodded. "I'll help you along, if you need it."

"Thanks mate," said Ron, pulling himself upright. "Let's get going then."

With Neville's assistance, Ron hobbled along the passage behind Harry and Hermione, until they reached another door.

"You'd better hang back," said Harry to Ron. "You won't be able to dodge."

Ron nodded, and waited a few metres from the door. Harry exchanged a quick nod with Hermione, then pushed it open.

Cold air spilled out of the darkened room beyond. Harry felt a sudden pressure against his mind. "_Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!_" Three shadowy, cloaked figures floated towards him. "_Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..._"

Harry didn't stop to think. Concentrating on the feeling of Lina's arms around him, he raised his wand and jabbed, shouting "_Expecto Patronum_!" Dazzling silver mist burst from his wand, coalescing into a bright figure.

"Well, this is unexpected," said Lina. "Anyway. _**ELMEKIA FLAME!**_"

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lina's sudden appearance brought a temporary halt to the party's progress through the 'challenges'. Her decisive strike had utterly destroyed the three — well...

"They can't have been Dementors," said Hermione. "Their cloaks are just ordinary fabric; there would be **something** left." She went over to the middle of the room, where three small chests were arranged in a line, their lids hanging open. "Someone shut the door, please?"

As Harry and Neville were preoccupied trying to hug an incorporeal, love-and-protection-radiating Lina, Ron hobbled over and closed the chamber door. Immediately the three chest lids snapped shut. Hermione examined the outside of the lids. "All right, open it again please?" As soon as Ron opened the door, the lids flew open. Hermione nodded in satisfaction. "Professor Quirrell's challenge, definitely."

"How d'you reckon that?" asked Ron.

"Well, I can't be completely sure, obviously, but I think each of these chests contained a Boggart." Hermione nodded again, pleased with her reasoning. "Quite a good creature to use: they can incapacitate without any real chance of killing anyone, and if I remember correctly they're covered in second year Defence, so any reasonably competent student could get past them."

"What's a Boggart?" asked Lina, coming over with the other (noticeably teary-eyed) two in tow.

"A shape-shifting emotivore," said Hermione. "Somewhat similar to Dementors, but they lack any physical body and only feed on fear, instead of the cocktail of despair and self-loathing that Dementors seem to prefer."

"They turn into whatever it is you're most scared of," added Ron. "Nasty buggers."

"Language Ron," said Hermione primly.

"That makes sense. They looked like little ghost monkeys to me," said Lina.

"You're afraid of ghost monkeys?" asked Ron incredulously. "But they didn't change..."

"Hah, no," said Lina. "I think I saw them as they really are. It's really weird... it's like I can see all the magic. There are luminous threads connecting the door to the chests, you're all glowing slightly and your wands are really bright... it's really beautiful." She turned and pointed to Harry's head. "Except for that. Harry, we need to find out more about your scar. It looks like there's an oily black sea anemone attached to your forehead."

"Oh, yuk," said Ron. Harry gulped, and the other two looked nervously at him.

"Don't worry too much," said Lina. "It's **on** you, not **part** of you."

"It hurts when Quirrell looks directly away from it," mumbled Harry. "I wonder why... OW!" He transferred his wand to his left hand and blew on the fingers of his right. "Sorry Lina, I'm going to have to drop this spell. My wand's getting really hot—"

"And the last thing we need is for it to explode," sighed Lina. "All right, I'll go back inside. I'll be ready in case you need me!"

Harry let the flow of magic stop, and the Patronus-Lina dissolved into motes of light, which streamed back into Harry. "She's back in," he said with relief. "All right, let's see what's up next."

"Potions, Astronomy, and History from the first year courses," said Hermione. "I hope Hagrid's monster dog doesn't count as Care of Magical Creatures; that would mean we're going to have to get through Ancient Runes and the other electives..."

"I hope there's nothing to do with History," grumbled Ron as he limped towards the next door. "We'd probably all fall asleep. Except for Hermione, of course." She gave him a superior smile as she pulled the door open.

The room beyond was softly-lit, and empty except for a table in the middle. Spotting several bottles and a scroll lying on the table, Hermione started forwards, with Harry right on her heels. As soon as he had passed the threshold, purple flames sprang up, blocking the doorway completely. A wall of black fire similarly blocked the way forwards.

Harry turned to Neville and Ron. "Give me a moment guys. I'll have this down..."

Ron shook his head ruefully. "Save your strength. My foot's worse than I thought; I couldn't make it much further anyway." He hobbling back to the chests and sat on one with a groan of relief. "We'll be the rearguard. Unless Neville...?"

Neville wrestled with his conscience for a moment. "I'll stay and keep Ron company," he said finally. "If Quirrell makes it past you, we'll stop him," he added, trying to look confident.

"Take care!" said Harry.

"You too," they chorused back.

Harry turned back to Hermione, who had been examining the scroll. "So, what do we do now?"

"It's a logic puzzle," she replied. "Not particularly difficult, except the bottles we need to go through either set of flames are missing; they've been replaced with duplicates of two of the others. It's likely that all of them are poisoned, rather than just three."

"Snape, or Quirrell?" asked Harry.

"I'm not sure," admitted Hermione. "It's more likely to be Quirrell though; if the Headmaster asked Professor Snape to make a difficult but solvable challenge, I don't think he'd make an lethal, impossible one instead."

"So how do we go on?" asked Harry. "Quiet or noisy?" He turned back to the Boggart room. "Ron, what do you think?"

"Quiet," Ron replied. "If you can sneak up on him, you might be able to get the drop on him."

"That sounds best, if you can do it," agreed Hermione.

"All right..." said Harry. "Let's try this. _Ext Ball_." A ball of light formed in his hand, then shot over to the black fire. Hermione began to smile as it started to draw the flames into itself, but frowned in disappointment when the ball winked out having made no real difference.

"I'm not surprised," said Harry with a sigh, "it's not a very strong spell. There's apparently a better version, but I've never had the chance to find it."

"What about Lina?" asked Hermione.

Harry gave a short laugh. "She's much better at making fire than putting it out." He thought for a moment. "Balus Wall is no use, it's a stationary shield. I don't want to risk Flare Seal; that doesn't look at **all** like normal fire. Gray Buster doesn't actually extinguish anything..."

"Or we could think outside the box," said Hermione, moving the bottles to the floor. "Help me with the table."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Between them they made short work of turning the table over and sliding it into the doorway. Hermione's idea worked perfectly: the black flames still flooded out of the floor, but were diverted by the wood, leaving the exit clear. It wouldn't last forever; the fire was quickly charring the edges of the tabletop, but the pair were able to make it through without any trouble. They looked back, and could just make out Ron and Neville giving them the thumbs up through the purple fire. They waved back, turned, and went down what they hoped was the last passageway.

"You hang back a little," whispered Harry. "That way if I get caught, you can do something about it." Hermione nodded, then gave him a quick hug for luck. Harry gave her a nervous grin, then went on.

The final chamber was glorious. Terraced steps curved all the way around, down to a small flat area in the middle, which had a faint yellow design on it. Stone pedestals were scattered about the steps, seemingly at random, some bearing large balls of different substances — stone, metal, and wood, among others. The high ceiling was a perfect dome, marked with the stars of the winter sky in bright gold, the pictures of the constellations being hinted at with tints and fine lines. Floating in the very centre of the room was a multi-layered cage. When Harry looked at it more closely, he realised that it was formed of geometric shapes: the outer shell had many triangular faces made of pierced brass. The next one in appeared to be made of pentagons; he couldn't make out the shapes of the others, although he could see at least another two. In the very middle of the contraption hung something that glowed with a reddish light.

Quirrell was pacing back and forth across the chamber, muttering to himself. Passing one pedestal, he seized the ball resting on it — a glass globe filled with flickering red flames. He then stalked over to another pedestal and placed the ball roughly on the top. Within the metal structure, one of the layers turned with a ticking noise, but there was no other effect. Quirrell cursed under his breath, and made his way to another pillar, this one bearing a ball of marble.

‹_It's now or never,›_ thought Harry. Focussing his magic, he waited until Quirrell was in the open, then cast as quietly as he could, "_Laphas Seed_!"

Unfortunately, Harry's luck failed him. At the moment the ropes started to rise around Quirrell he turned, presenting the back of his head. Harry lost concentration as his scar burned. He tried to stifle his cry of pain, but Quirrell heard him, span around, and replied with "_Incarcerous_!" Harry fell, bound in rope from shoulders to toes. He twisted enough to roll onto his back, and glared at Quirrell.

"Well, well, Mister Potter," said Quirrell, without a trace of a stutter. "You **have** been busy. I thought the steps I'd taken would delay any pursuers — taking Flitwick's flying key, Confounding the chess pieces to attack whoever joined their side, spoiling Snape's little puzzle — but you got through almost as fast as I did. I must congratulate you." He came over to Harry's supine form, then crouched beside him. "Perhaps you would like to apply your skills to this final puzzle? I could make it worth your while..."

"I doubt I could help," replied Harry. "I just blew up everything that got in the way. That cage thing looks too strong though."

"Indeed," said Quirrell softly. "There is more to you than meets the eye, isn't there Potter?"

"Nah," said Harry, feeling a rush of cockiness from Lina. "I'm nothing special."

"Nothing special..." repeated Quirrell. "And yet you **supposedly** defeated the greatest wizard of our age..."

"That was my mum," said Harry. "You remember; I made a speech about it and everything."

"Ah yes, the valiant Lily Potter's sacrifice. Perhaps so—" Quirrell stopped and cocked his head as though listening. "Are you sure? If he escapes... Yes, Master." He raised his hands to his turban and began unwinding it. "My master wishes to... look you in the eye, shall we say?"

Quirrell cast aside his turban, revealing a noseless, red-eyed face occupying to the back of his head. As he turned, Harry's scar exploded with pain again and he cried out. He kept enough presence of mind to squeeze his eyes shut; he wanted this monster in his mind even less than Dumbledore.

A thin, high voice intruded through the pain; a voice that Harry recognised immediately. "Does that hurt, Harry Potter? Curious..." A finger pressed against Harry's scar, and he screamed as the agony became unbearable.

"**STOP!**" Hermione's voice echoed across the chamber. "I— I'll help you get the Stone. But you have to leave Harry alone."

"Ah, Miss Granger," said Quirrell. "I should have expected you to be around somewhere. Will Misters Longbottom and Weasley be joining us as well?"

"They're around somewhere," said Hermione, trying her best to sound brave. "But I wasn't talking to you. Well, Mister Voldemort? Do you want the Stone, or would you rather poke at Harry until the Headmaster gets here?"

"It's a more difficult choice than you might think," said the thin, high voice of Voldemort. "Regardless of what he claims about his mother, this child holds power... enough power to destroy my body, leaving me as less than a ghost, so bereft of strength that even after all these years I am barely able to possess another to sustain myself. But I think the Stone should come first. Come here, girl."

"Not a chance," said Hermione. Harry still had his eyes shut tightly, but he imagined her hiding behind some pedestal, relying on the echoes in the room to conceal the source of her voice. He concentrated on the image, using it to gather the faculties scattered by the pain of Quirrell's touch. "Let's get to it. Are any of the pedestals marked?"

"Yes," said Quirrell. "All of them have a carving of an animal on the top."

"Good," said Hermione. "Find the turtle first."

Quirrell moved off, and Harry dared to open his eyes a slit. The possessed teacher moved around the terraces, looking at the tops of the pedestals, until he finally said, "Here it is."

"Right," said Hermione. "Push the pedestal around until it's under the North Star."

"What?" said Quirrell.

"Move the pedestal, idiot!" hissed Voldemort. "Why is it that you failed to notice that they could be moved?"

"I'm sorry Master," grunted Quirrell as he pushed against the pedestal. With a little effort he slid it around the terrace until it was under the tip of the Little Bear's tail.

"Good," said Hermione. "Now, there should be a ball full of water. Put it on the tortoise pedestal."

Quirrell scuttled over to the other side of the chamber and picked up a glass ball from the floor. Returning to the pedestal, he placed the ball on it, and was rewarded with a series of clicks from the brass structure. There was a pause, then a high-pitched chime sounded out.

"Excellent," said Voldemort. "Please continue, Miss Granger."

"Find the Dragon pedestal," she called out, "push it to the East — you'll have to judge where it should be — and place the wooden ball on it."

Urged on by Voldemort, Quirrell hurried to comply. This time the pentagon-faced shell turned, and a much deeper chime sounded.

"Now a Tiger," said Hermione. "It goes in the West, with the metal ball." Again the cage clicked once the ball was in position, and another chime sounded out.

"Hurry Quirrell!" hissed Voldemort. "The Stone is almost within my grasp!" Harry stiffened in anticipation. When Quirrell moved the next pedestal, Harry would be hidden from him for a few moments, and Voldemort and his mount were so caught up with getting the Stone that they appeared to have forgotten about him.

"Phoenix pedestal, to the South. Use the ball of fire."

‹_This might hurt a bit...›_ thought Harry, steeling himself. There was no way he could move his wand, and although there was a spell practically made for this situation, he wasn't sure he could aim it well enough to cut all his bonds without scoring his skin as well. Quirrell started to push the pedestal. ‹_Here goes...›_ He whispered, "_Bram Fang_." An arrow of wind formed above his head and sliced along his body, cutting into his cheek on the way. Harry ignored the small twinge of pain, and the ropes fell away as he sat up.

"All right Lina," he whispered. "The bastard doesn't hurt you just by looking at you, so you'll have to take it from here."

Lina stood up, a feral grin on her face. "_Flare Bit_!" Balls of light swarmed from her hands. Quirrell immediately cast a shield, but the lights swarmed around its edges, and he was pummelled across the chamber by dozens of blows, collapsing against one of the spare pedestals. Lina stalked after him, getting within arms' reach. Quirrell tried to bring his wand to bear, but Lina grabbed him by the wrist. She was slightly surprised when he screamed at her touch, smoke pouring from the point of contact, but Lina wasn't one to ignore a surprise advantage; she tightened her grip and held it until Quirrell's hand dropped his wand and fell limp.

His body quickly followed. With a hiss that sounded like 'ussselesss', dark mist poured from the back of Quirrell's head, coalescing into a vaguely humanoid shape. Quirrell dropped like a puppet with cut strings.

"_You will __**pay**__ for this insult!"_ the cloud hissed mentally. "_You and all you love will suffer for this!"_

The cloud drifted forward, attempting to envelop and possess Lina, but as soon as it came into contact with her it recoiled, roiling in psychic agony.

"_Aaaaaah! What __**are**__ you?"_

Lina smiled like a shark that had scented blood.

"I am Harry's anger made manifest.

"I am Harry's hurt embodied.

"I am Lily Potter's love and magical protection given form.

"I am your death."

She bowed her head and cupped her hands in front of her. "Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite." Light began to swell between her hands. "Everlasting flame of blue, let the power hidden in my soul be called forth from the Infinite..." The light condensed into a flaring ball, eager to spring at its target. "_**RA-TILT!**_"

A shaft of pure blue-white light shot out, striking Voldemort's shade and swelling to envelop it. The shade struggled for a moment, hissing "_No! This cannot be! I am immortal!"_, but the light overcame its shadow and consumed it utterly.

Hermione stepped out tentatively from the passageway at the other side of the room. "Is it over?"

Lina turned and gave her a dazzling grin. "For Voldy? Absolutely. For Querulous Squirrel; probably. We're not quite finished though." She went over to the Phoenix pedestal and pushed it the last few centimetres. The ball of fire was already in place; she was rewarded by the expected clicks and chime.

"You were absolutely brilliant there," said Lina. "A perfect distraction, and you saved our bums. One last step to go though, I think?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "There should be a ball full of earth; it should go on the floor on the yellow picture." She joined Lina in hunting for the ball.

"How did you figure it out?" asked Lina.

"It's fairly simple if you know it. Su Li gave me the background details I needed when we were talking about the House elemental associations last month.

"The animals used are the Chinese guardians of the compass, that's why the pillars go where they do. Each is associated with one of the five Chinese elements, but that only comes to four. The cage is made from the five Platonic solids, which support the spheres of the planets — Ancient Greek philosophy. The four guardians each have an associated planet, but Saturn, the outermost, isn't included in the set in Chinese mythology. However, in the Japanese system, Saturn's element is Earth — found it! The only place that Earth fits in the Chinese diagram is in the centre — those yellow lines are a stylised picture of the Lord Commander's face."

Lina grinned at her again. "Totally brilliant."

Hermione smiled in return as she held the final ball out to Lina: another glass sphere filled with loose soil. Lina held up her hands. "No, no, you worked it out; the honour is yours."

"All right..." said Hermione, and placed the ball on the floor, right on the Lord of the Centre's nose.

A deep gong sounded, then with a clicking noise the outer icosahedron split at its edges, folding back to reveal Jupiter's dodecahedron. It opened too, followed by each layer in turn: octahedron, cube, and tetrahedron, until finally the Philosopher's Stone was released. It floated down slowly into Lina's waiting hand.

"You're a star, Hermione. I'm going to swap with Harry now, to keep this thing safe. Once we're away from Tumblegore's reach we can examine it and see what it can do."

Lina morphed into Harry, who immediately gave Hermione a grin of his own. "Lina's already said it once, but I think you were brilliant too. Thanks for saving us."

Hermione blushed. "You're welcome. But... are you all right? You're bleeding a little."

Harry wiped at his cheek. "Just a scratch. Really; that spell can't do much more than give you a nasty paper cut. Slices ropes just fine though."

"What about your... your scar?"

"I've got a bit of a headache from the screaming, but other than that I'm fine. No lingering pain there."

Hermione frowned. "Do you think the thing Lina saw is still there?"

"Probably," said Harry. "We'll check once we get home."

"Home!" said Hermione suddenly. "We must have missed the train! My parents will be so worried!"

"I doubt it's even lunch time yet," said Harry. "We'll get to King's Cross in time, some way or another. But there's no sense in sticking around here; let's go back and find Ron and Neville."

"Shouldn't we check on Professor Quirrell first?" asked Hermione.

"If you want," shrugged Harry. "I'm pretty sure he's dead though." He followed her over to the fallen Defence professor.

"He isn't breathing," Hermione noted.

"Help me roll him over," said Harry. "I want to see if there's anything left of... you know."

With Hermione's help he pulled Quirrell onto his face, then they both had to turn away, retching. The back of his head was hollowed out, as if by a giant ice-cream scoop.

"Definitely dead," choked Hermione. "Poor Professor Quirrell..."

"Poor Professor nothing," snorted Harry. "You heard him; he was quite happy to be working for that monster. Speaking of, you cottoned on to it being Voldemort really quickly."

"That was nothing," said Hermione deprecatingly. "He made your scar hurt when he faced you; who else would it be? Anyway, let's get out of here."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Harry and Hermione got back to Ron and Neville just as the cavalry was arriving, in the persons of Dumbledore and McGonagall. The Headmaster continued on to examine the remainder of the challenges, while his Deputy fixed the damage to Ron's foot and helped the four return to the entry shaft. Several brooms were waiting to carry them out.

Harry and Hermione started to give a highly redacted version of the story to McGonagall, but she asked them to wait. "I'm very sure the Headmaster will want to hear it all shortly. There's no sense in repeating yourselves; I'll hear the full story then. Now, I'm sure you'd like to spend the time until the Headmaster returns with your other friends. They were rather worried for your safety."

The four were soon reunited with the others: Blaise ("Yes, Snape's fine; he was just stunned."); Su Li, Hannah, and Susan ("No, the dragon didn't hurt anyone." "Dumbledore shot straight off to find you." "So did McGonagall once we found her."); the Twins ("We were | a bit worried | when you split up."). Their other friends had also appeared: Miss Greengrass and Michael had been in the castle and missed all the action, while Justin and Tracey had followed Su Li back from the forest edge. Harry gave them a brief run-down of the situation, and promised to tell them all the details (‹_except about Lina, probably›_) at the party at Sirius' place.

Then McGonagall returned and summoned the four to the Headmaster's office.

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Dumbledore was already ensconced behind his desk by the time they arrived. Snape was there too, leaning against the wall in a shadowed corner. When Harry came through the door he caught his eye, and they exchanged nods.

"Please, sit down," said Dumbledore, making a show of conjuring chairs for them all. "Lemon drop?"

"No thanks," said Harry. The others shook their heads.

"As you wish," said Dumbledore. "Now, I would very much like to hear the story of your adventure today. Harry, what do you know about the mist that appeared around the dragon?"

"Magic," said Harry. He had decided to take a leaf out of Lina's book, and was mimicking the coldly precise mannerisms she used when dealing with Umbridge.

"Indeed," said the Headmaster, "but what spell? Who drove the dragon off, and how?"

"Sore wa... himitsu desu," said Harry.

Dumbledore sighed, then looked at the others. Not one of the infuriating brats would meet his gaze! "What about you, Miss Granger?"

"I'm sorry Headmaster, while I could describe what I saw, I cannot describe of any of the magic used today."

"And why is that?" asked Dumbledore.

Harry answered for her. "Aside from a few Lumos spells and the like, all magic used as part of today's adventure count as Familial. My guardian's family, to be precise; while she has taught me and allowed me to use her family magic in the presence of my friends, we may not even describe it to others without her permission."

"In that case, at least you can tell me what happened?" said Dumbledore.

"The details are irrelevant," Harry said dismissively. "Let me summarise. As Professor Snape has no doubt told you, the dragon was a diversion. Professor Quirrell, who was being possessed by the shade of Lord Voldemort, made a play for the bait you so temptingly dangled in front of him. We found this out, followed him, and overcame your little diversions with main force — fortunately, as Quirrell had taken steps to make them unsolvable. In the end Voldemort met his long-awaited fate. Unfortunately Quirrell died when Voldemort left his body."

"Ah," said Dumbledore. "I'm afraid that Voldemort is not so easily vanquished. He has taken steps to ensure that his soul cannot cross over. Only once they are countered can he pass on."

"You misunderstand me," said Harry. "Voldemort's spirit did not depart, 'cross over', 'pass on', or otherwise leave. It was utterly eradicated."

The Headmaster blanched. "How... how could you **do** such a thing?"

Harry sighed. "Sore wa—"

"Not the means!" shouted Dumbledore, slapping his desk, causing Hermione and Ron to jump in their seats. "I care not what Dark abomination you used! How could you bring yourself to commit such a vile act! What right have you—"

"**He. Was. My. ENEMY.**" said Harry, standing up and infusing his voice with magic to give it emphasis. "He murdered my parents. He and his followers tortured and killed with abandon. Other than the lucky few like Hermione who have only just come into this world, **not one** of my friends or acquaintances has escaped some loss at his hand! And he was trying to **come back**! To take up his reign of terror again! So we made sure he was **put down**. You are **welcome**." Harry paused as Hermione laid a calming hand on his arm. He sighed, and sat back down. "And for your information, the spell used was of the most refined Light magic."

Dumbledore sighed as well, and reined in his temper. "Nevertheless, to destroy him so, without any hope of redemption..."

"I'm sorry," said Harry. "Did you just say that you would risk the lives of innocents to allow a dark monster the chance to redeem himself?"

"We must not presume to take such responsibilities on ourselves," said Dumbledore sagely. "However, what's done is done... and I fear that we have not seen the last of Lord Voldemort." His eyes flicked up to Harry's scar, ever so briefly. Harry missed seeing it, but Neville and Hermione did not.

"There is one other matter we must touch on today," said Dumbledore. "That of the artefact I was protecting."

"You mean the bait at the end of your obstacle course?" said Harry with a grin. "It's safe."

"I feel I must point out that it doesn't belong to you," said Dumbledore.

"Oh?" said Harry with an innocent look. "I thought it was the prize for completing the puzzles." Out the corner of his eye, he caught McGonagall and Snape suppressing grins at that.

"Nevertheless, you must return it."

"I should probably point out that it doesn't belong to you either," noted Harry. Snape was definitely having trouble maintaining his composure. "What do you want it for?"

"I fear it must be destroyed," Dumbledore said sadly. "It is too strong a temptation to be allowed to exist."

"Ah," said Harry. "We probably shouldn't presume to take on that sort of responsibility." The tiniest of smiles quirked the corner of Snape's mouth. ‹_Victory!›_ "I was thinking of returning it to its maker. I expect he would be in the best position to know what to do with it."

"Even so—" Dumbledore began.

McGonagall interrupted him. "Headmaster," she said, "I am sure that, **like you**, Mister Potter has only the best of intentions, and will make sure that your old mentor gets his Stone back. Now, if they are to get to King's Cross in time to meet their families, we must be getting these children on their way."

"Very well," sighed Dumbledore. "I will see you all in the new year."

Once outside the office, Hermione lost containment. "Harry James Potter! I can't **believe** you talked to the Headmaster like that! Nor that you actually got me to back you up! I— I'm lost for words!"

"Incredible," said Snape with a sneer. "Is there no end to your talents Mister Potter?"

The four pupils just stared at their potions professor for the remainder of the ride down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he gave a short bow to McGonagall, saying, "I will leave these miscreants in your care, Deputy Headmistress." He turned and strode off, robes billowing behind him as swept around the corner to the main stairwell. After a moment his voice floated back to them: "Ten points to Gryffindor, Mister Potter."

-=o=-=oOo=-=o=-

Lucius Malfoy sat in his study, swirling fine brandy in a balloon glass and pondering the events of the last few months. Harry Potter vanishing then reappearing under mysterious circumstances; Dolores Umbridge gaining a new patron that had removed her from his influence; Sirius Black exonerated and taking up his lordship. And then there were the rumours from Hogwarts...

As had happened so often over the last few days, his thoughts were drawn to a certain secret drawer in his desk. A mild compulsion? Perhaps... but one that, on reflection, it would be advisable to follow.

He leaned over and performed the motions necessary to reveal the drawer. Once open, he reached for the small, unassuming black book that his Master had entrusted to him. As soon as he touched it, he knew what he had to do.

_**To be continued...**_

-=o=-=oO=OOOOO=Oo=-=o=-

Oh dear... the Dark Lord is dead, long live the Dark Lord?

Did Dumbledore really just let Harry walk out with the Philosopher's Stone?

Boggarts in second year: Lockhart was too busy gassing about Werewolves and hair care to stick to the proper curriculum. As Snape was quite aware, minor menaces like Boggarts and Hinkypunks are **second** year material, third year is for Werewolves, Acromantulas, and so on.

Bye bye Alan Rickman. Your legacy will live on.


End file.
